In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world’s first orbiting satellite, Sputnik. This elliptical sphere the size of a basketball took 98 minutes to encircle the earth and emitted a faint beep as it made its momentous trip. It provided no information back to mother Earth and yet it became a symbol of dominance in space exploration. Various workplaces have "human Sputniks" wandering aimlessly throughout the workplace, providing little, if any, important input when they’re ensconced at their desk or workstation. Yet they somehow manage to stay under the radar screen when it comes to cutbacks.

Perhaps they work in an operations department, where they’re able to hide among the masses. Maybe they’re in a planning area or in research or a customer service department. Maybe , they’re part of senior management. Wherever they are, these stealth employees are somehow able to avoid the structure of the workplace and just meander through the day. Perhaps they contribute a maximum of two hours of work a day, so that they don’t garner any unwanted attention from supervisors. On the other hand, very few supervisors understand what these people do, and because they’re generally long term employees, no one bothers to inquire.

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