>>17281I read this book and yes, I agree. He gives five categories of useless jobs:
1. who serve to make their superiors feel important, e.g., receptionists, administrative assistants, door attendants
2. goons, who oppose other goons hired by other companies, e.g., lobbyists, corporate lawyers, telemarketers, public relations specialists
3. duct tapers, who temporarily fix problems that could be fixed permanently, e.g., programmers repairing shoddy code, airline desk staff who calm passengers whose bags do not arrive
4. box tickers, who create the appearance that something useful is being done when it is not, e.g., survey administrators, in-house magazine journalists, corporate compliance officers
5. taskmasters, who manage—or create extra work for—those who do not need it, e.g., middle management, leadership professionals
Some are worse than others. He gives an example of people who are supposed to help vulnerable people fill in benefits forms but end up harming them (type 4). Others are just a bit boring but in rare cases might be well paid (types 1 and 3). I think people making extra work (type 5) are the most common as every business has someone who comes up with pointless HR things that no one wants to do.