Spring is sprung and the bees are busy (but are they efficient?)

Spring is here (though it’s still rather shyly emerging from a chilly, wet winter in the Western Cape). On a recent sunny day I was admiring the flowers in my picture when I became aware of the bees so busily at work amongst them.

My goodness, are they busy!! Almost constantly on the move, settling briefly on a flower. Sometimes almost ‘bouncing’ off a flower and off to the next one. Mostly moving directly to the next adjacent flower. But sometimes not, and meandering. What if I did a spaghetti diagram to plot their movements across a bed of flowers – to assess movement efficiency? What if I measured time actually collecting nectar to total time at the bed of flowers – to assess the ratio of ‘value-adding time to total time at work’? Millions of years of evolution may be behind what I’m observing, but do bees actually work efficiently?

Clients who have many staff now working remotely wonder to me if staff members are working efficiently. There is evidence those working from home are busier than when they were in the office, e.g. The Economist of 12th September. Some research finds staff working longer and more productive hours. Some researchers question if this is sustainable. Other, older research, shows office workers do value-adding work only about 25% of the day.

I’m sure working from home will show better movement efficiency than when in the office, especially if the spaghetti diagram includes the commute to the office! But what of the ‘value-adding time to total time at work’ ratio? On that score, I think the bees would have one over me, not to mention office workers? How about you?

Enjoy spring: make time to smell the flowers! Work effectively and efficiently.

Norman

PS: the bees show incredible focus – nothing seems to distract them. Distractions, interruptions, disruptions, oh how they bedevil work quality, productivity and sense of accomplishment. (Put that phone away!)