Stressed, panicked, and at the breaking point, zombies are invading your workplace and devouring your productivity. Here’s how to spot them and stop them from spreading...

SYMPTOMS:

Nervous smiles

MissingDeliverables

FlounderingProjects

OverwhelmedStares

UnreportedIssues

50of workers say they're under-staffed, resulting in plenty of work being done after business hours

%

50%of workers say they work more than 40 hrs/wk

NAME: Newly Infected

Perhaps the most dangerous kind of workplace zombie, this one doesn’t know or doesn’t want to know it’s been infected. With this denial comes all sorts of problems.

13of employees lie to cover up failed projects, mistakes, or missed deadlines

%

CONTAGIOUSNESS:

DAMAGE:

YOUR BESTWEAPON:

Project status

tracking (preferably real-time)

Heart-to-heart and a

plate of fresh-baked chocolate

chip cookies

SYMPTOMS:Rash of overdue tasks

Lost Requests

CONTAGIOUSNESS:

DAMAGE:

YOUR BESTWEAPON:

Request management

tool

At-risk reports

Adrenaline shot to the

heart

40 of employees miss deadlines sometimes or often%

CONTAGIOUSNESS:

DAMAGE:

YOUR BESTWEAPON:

Request intake

processes

Resourceworkloadreports

Free passesto the day

spa

NAME: The Herd

These zombies never question their workloads, accepting requests blindly, usually inundated with tasks. They keep plodding forward, understaffed and overworked, brought to a near-catatonic state by soul-crushing overtime.

NAME: Crawler

This zombie subverts your team's established processes in the name of speed and efficiency. Unfortunately, the Crawler's "quick results" secretly suck up your resources, while luring other team members to the dark side, making them more contagious than a cold sore at a New Year’s Eve party in Paris.

SYMPTOMS:

High amountsof overtime

Depressedsighs

CONTAGIOUSNESS:

DAMAGE:

YOUR BESTWEAPON:

Hard rules, processes and enforcement governing use of resources

Timeout

64of employees say they ignore processes to get work done

% SYMPTOMS:

Resources with guilty looks on their faces and extra work in their queues

Projects completed without approval

Eeriesilence

CONTAGIOUSNESS:

DAMAGE:

YOUR BESTWEAPON:

Well-defined request

management and resource management processes

Management’s buy-in

NAME: Howler

The squeaky wheel of workplace zombies, the Howler makes lots of noise to attract attention to their tasks or issues, often using political capital to get their way.

42of employees say one or two of their team membersconsume most of their resources

%SYMPTOMS:“We’ll justdo it to keephim/her happy”

Resourcessucked awayfrom justified, strategic projects

Phone calls oremails to superiorsoutside of theestablished process

Lack of justificationor proven alignment with business objectives

NAME: Thriller

This zombie hides its lack of actual productivity behind a beguilingly flashy cloak. This cloak usually consists of fudging numbers and only gets more deceptive in the absence of actual work data. This zombie is rare but still dangerous.

SYMPTOMS:Conflictingdata

CONTAGIOUSNESS:

DAMAGE:

YOUR BESTWEAPON:

Numbers gathered

consistently over your

entire team's work

●Polygraph test

7of employees admit to inflating their numbers to make their performance look better

%

1 23

31HOURS

NAME: Shuffler

Without constant reminders, its neglected work requests can swell to epic proportions or simply be lost in the chaos. This negligence spills over into other's work, infecting them with similar tardiness and frustration.

Lack ofpushbackon requests

Two-weeknotices

DeadStares

NAME: Shifty

Often by no fault of its own, this workplace zombie darts from one project to another as priorities shift on a daily basis. As this pattern continues, this zombie becomes increasingly dangerous before unexpectedly migrating to another workplace.

NAME: Runner

To cope with its rising workloads, the Runner frantically sends out flurries of meeting invites and emails and peppers fellow team members with impromptu visits. The more emails and meetings they create, the more they infect other team members.

CONTAGIOUSNESS:

DAMAGE:

YOUR BESTWEAPON:

A work prioriti-zation process that everyone can stick to, including an

objective score-card system.

A distraction-freeenvironment

24%

SYMPTOMS:Downcast expressionson the faces ofresources

Fallingproductivity

Two-weeknotices

A growing backlogthat spreads toother teams

SYMPTOMS:Callouses on fingertips and earsFrantic

Expressions

CONTAGIOUSNESS:

DAMAGE:

YOUR BESTWEAPON:

Limits on use of email,

IM, and meetings

Making project activities visible to all team members

Aroma-therapy

Increased anxiety levels among team members

wasted per month per employee in unproductive meetings

304 sent to theaverage employee every week

Floodsof email

BUSINESSEMAILS

10IQ POINTS

when constantly fielding emails, the average employee loses

when constantly fielding emails, the average employee loses

x

attask.comStop the zombies from invading your o�ce.

AngryStakeholders

say their work priorities shift daily, resulting in wasted time and increased stress

Lack of actual results