Misallocation of resources

At first glance, this picture may seem absolutely unremarkable... it is just a picture of an intersection with a red light, a car and a couple of construction workers holding signs. Take another look. Let me set the stage a little better. There are four people holding signs... one at each side of the intersection hold the stop/slow signs. The light is not red, it is flashing red... in all four directions. The construction is actually taking place on the street to the side of the construction. Okay, so let's assume that we need to control the intersection. Do we really need four people to do it? Two options to reduce three employees.

1. Hire an off-duty traffic cop to stand in the middle of the road.
2. Have someone control the lights. They are designed to tell people when to stop and go, afterall. You can have someone just stand at the control box and turn the lights red, yellow and green.

I know what they were thinking.... Why have one person control traffic when you can have four at only four times the cost? At least they didn't put up a sign that said "Your tax dollars at work." You need to be willing to automate a bit to increase your efficiencies. If you aren't, you will always spend more money.

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Corey Smith is a co-founder of Resumango where you can build a better resume for free.