The 5 kinds office dinosaurs on the verge of extinction (and how not to become one)

You read it on the Web. You hear it in the whispers. You see it at your office. The Digital Economy is changing the very fundamentals of how business is done. The age of coasting is over - the age of constant upskilling has begun.

Lurking in the depths of the corporate jungle are the soon-to-become extinct office dinosaurs. It’s easy to spot them if you know their trademarks, their traits, their watering holes, and their patterns. We’ve identified five of the most common ones around.

The Shirk-o-saurus

This particular office dinosaur is fond of running. Running away from work. Running away from responsibilities. Running away from roles - all while they lurk in the corners of their cubicles. Surprisingly, despite all the running that they do, they are often the last to finish when it comes to getting a job done.

The Napo-dactyl

Also going by the nickname Dinosauruzzzzzzzz, this particular species of office dinosaur is most often seen counting sheep at every given opportunity and at any place they can find: boardrooms, conferences, desks, cafeteria tables and even possibly sneaking in a second or two at traffic signals. They are the masters of the 40-winks, the power naps, the snooze, the post-prandial stupor, the lie-in and every possible sleep type. When it comes to getting ahead at work, the adage ‘You snooze, you lose.’ applies to the Napo-dactyl.

The Tea-rex

Frequently spotted at its favourite watering holes, which include the office cafeteria and the roadside chai stall around the corner, the Tea-rex is often found putting away copious amounts of chai throughout the day. Preferring bites to bytes, this office dinosaur hunts alone or in packs and punctuates its workday with tea breaks at regular intervals: the just-got-in-to-work cup, the catch-up-on-the-gossip cup, the mid-morning cup, the post-lunch-chaser, the regular-tea-break cup, the 6-pm-snack-cup and finally the one-for-the-road cup. Just like the tea bag, the tea-rex could find itself in hot water if it doesn’t look too sharp.

The Leave-o-raptor

Often spotted glancing at a calendar, the leave-o-raptor is usually the first to pounce on the office holiday list, hunt down long weekends and plan out its year-long escapades, often merging business trips with personal vacations. The leave-o-raptor lives from one holiday to the next, and thrives on using every kind of leave option available to its advantage, sometimes drawing into a negative balance. It just might be time for the leave-o-raptors to pack their bags - and not for a holiday, this time.

The Timepassaurus

The Timepassarus thrives on the art of ‘just getting by’. This includes putting in the bare minimum hours (and effort) needed, recycling the same PowerPoint presentation for 10 years, faking bills, and giving random suggestions at meetings only to register its presence. It sure looks like it’s ‘time-up’ for the Timepassarus.

Upskill and don’t let your job role be killed with Great Learning

The ability to be a lifelong learner is an important trait that distinguishes successful professionals from mediocre ones. No matter how good you are at your work, there will still be things you do not know or need to become better at. With new information, skills and technological manoeuvres being added to every field at a rapid pace today, the importance of lifelong learning has only increased. Great Learning, an online and hybrid learning company, aims to set professionals up for ‘learning for life’ with its high-quality and industry-relevant programmes. With a brand-new campaign called the ‘Office Dinosaur’, they aim to use humour to engage their audiences and get their message across.

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