BuzzLife

Most of us multi-task one way or another.. be it at home, at work, during leisure time, during driving, during "berak"ing, I could go on and on. Talking on the phone as you type in your computers, as you drive, as you do housework, reading as you "berak",  are all part of multi-tasking. But when you are supposed to cover the duties of more than one person in your work place, that would be something which needs pondering.

Multi-tasking at work? Hmm.. a corporate buzz concept made these days that a few can be made to do the work of a lot. Looks like it is a trend to layoff the so-called "redundant" employees and let the stayers work more and more and more for the same pay. The latest being MAS, our national airlines which will release 2,600 employees out of the 4,500 who applied for Mutual Separation Scheme (MSS), and another further 3,900 through retirement and contract expiry. Oh.. call it VSS, MSS or natural attrition or whatsoever, the rule according to the employer is once it is done on a mutual basis, nobody is forcibly made redundant. The next question will be what’s going to happen to the morale of the loyal employees who stay behind, especially those who opt for MSS but were rejected because the company still "needs" them? Is the company going to give them a special performance incentive for covering the jobs of their colleagues? Now.. this is where the terms multi-tasking comes in or as the employers’ claim.. increase in productivity!

Do you ever wonder why you can’t recall what you did yesterday? Or even what you did an hour ago or what do you suppose to do or which task to complete first? This is an interesting article on how multi tasking makes you more stupid, a scientific research reported by Sue Shellenbarger of The Wall Street Journal.. Some excepts here: "A growing body of scientific research shows one of the jugglers’ favorite time-saving techniques, multitasking, can actually make you less efficient and, well, stupider. Trying to do two or three things at once or in quick succession can take longer overall than doing them one at at time, and might leave you reduced brainpower to perform each task.

There is a scientific evidence that multitasking is extremely hard for someone to do, and sometimes impossible, says David Meyer, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan. Chronic high-stress multitasking also is linked to short-term memory loss."

Well, do think twice the next time you multi-task..