Steveer Robbins here.

Welcome to the Get It Done Guys quick and dirty tips to work less and do more.

Listener Calvin called in.

Hi, Steve, this is Calvin from Los Angeles, California.

I was calling because I had a question regarding dealing with human resources.

I noticed that as a teacher last year, I spent an inordinate amount of time

dealing with various issues of benefits. This is a problem I think that is common in a lot of

small businesses or organizations that don't have a full human resources department. What tips can

you give for consistently managing and dealing with benefits issues, such as insurance enrollment, or some

unusual ones in my workplace like canceled premiums or any other special benefits issues

or dealing with HR while also trying to cut out the amount of time it takes from your

productive work time. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.

Calvin, bureaucracies are famous for helping you get where you want to go in the most

roundabout way possible.

Bureaucracies! I just love bureaucracies! No, I don't. I hate bureaucracies.

But they exist for a reason. As organizations grow bigger, it takes more and more coordination to keep things

working well. They also give us more people to talk to. We once had time to spend with friends,

learn stuff, be creative, and build caring communities. Now we're too busy updating our Facebook

profiles. Bureaucracies fill this void, giving us a whole new community, all aligned

around the common purposes of feeling busy and productive, even when we're not actually being

busy and productive. Heck, if we actually got stuff done efficiently, there wouldn't be enough

work to go around, and we'd have layoffs. So hooray for bureaucracies. It sounds, though, like your HR department

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