If there is one skill that I think HR practitioners should master, it is mastering the fine art of being the laziest worker in the office.

I’m not referring to the typical laziness that companies think employees often engage in. This version of laziness doesn’t refer to your idle chitchatting with colleagues or the throwing of sheep at friends on Facebook while you think the boss is away.

No sir. Being a swami at laziness requires more skill and finesse than that.

An English advertising mogul by the name of Drayton Bird once said, “I’m lazy. That’s why I read a lot of business books. I’d rather do one day’s good work than twenty years of bad.”

I wholeheartedly believe that being lazy has its benefits. Lazy people like us want perfection (or at least near-perfection) at work on our first attempt. We know through experience that it is more tedious, laborious, mind-numbing and backbreaking to keep fixing mistakes over and over again. Like Drayton Bird said, we’d rather do one day’s worth of good work than twenty years of bad.

So we trudge on, proofing and trying to spot our mistakes and errors before other people get to us. Just as long as you don’t call us anal!    

Starting from this month, I’m at the helm of the editorial department for Human Resources magazine. I’d be the first to admit that taking up this role wasn’t an easy decision for me to make and was one that I was initially adamant against doing.

Despite spending a little over a year with this magazine, I conjured excuses to those who asked me why I wouldn’t consider taking up the promotion: I’m not a manager! I’m too young. I have too little experience! Do you know that being promoted is more stressful than going through a divorce?

But after sorting through many disappointing resumes, sitting in interviews that ranged from lacklustre to the down-right bizarre, and after some arm-twisting from my boss, I decided to jump in and take the reins. I decided that there was no one else better suited for the role of the editor for this magazine than me.

Who better to fill the shoes of my predecessor than someone who was trained by the predecessor herself?

So hang on to your hats, because we’re going to launch some new changes that can only please you. Not only are we gearing up for the launch a new look for Human Resources magazine and website in February next year, but my sole direction for the content of the magazine is to make you the laziest, work-efficient person in your office. And not just merely in your role as a HR practitioner and leader, but also as a manager and an employee.

And so, here’s my pledge from me to you: Human Resources magazine will make you the laziest worker around (but also the best!)