Working Extra Hours?

Working Extra Hours?

In private companies and MNC’s it’s a new hot discussion in our country, why work extra hours and on personal time when we are paid for just 8 hours. Day by day people gossip and complain a lot about this.

Is this a problem with the Industry or a problem with employees? Before we get to a verdict let see what exactly might be the reasons behind this.

For Employers: For every employer in this industry it is a myth that they believe in. They often equate longer hours with increased production and superior work ethic. For decades by now people have been in this myth. And they have been blindfolded and they never recognized smart workers around them. A person who leaves office last will be start employee of the month. Not a joke, just check it out with buddies around 8/10 will agree and will share a story that happened likewise.

Top business magnets like Bill Gates had a different thought as an employer. He made better success with a simple thought.

Quote: “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.”

Current myths should change in our industry. Majority of the companies and management strongly lack in resource management and time management.

Few giant MNC’s does not even know their employee’s strength’s, interests and weakness. They pick a random person for a random JOB with incompetent trainings. 8/10 employees don’t work on what they are interested, they work on what they are forced to work on. And after a period they under rate him for not being up to the expectation. Is this the mistake of the individual or the employer? I met an campus hired mine engineer and metallurgical engineer from IIT for an IT job. I still wonder what was the expectation from these MNC’s. Why did they study hard to get 99% marks wasted 4yrs studying core subjects in counties best institute. A simple degree in computers whould have sufficed.

When it comes to time at work,Maybe less really is more!

Separating work from personal life can help us lead a more balanced life; it gives us a mental break from stressing about work, and we can return to the office refreshed in the morning.

Dear Employer’s — Think is this a loss to you or the employee! This is a loss to our nation.

Oh yeah! I get lot of points and energy to pull all bosses around.. Now let’s see why our employees still bend and work beyond 8hrs. There should be some reason right?

For Employees: Before I start, let me share a bit of me. I am a normal techie guy from one of the Big 4 companies. Nothing new, same like you all even I was just a corporate slave. Working hard 24x7 gave up on personal life, messed up my relationship. A completely messed up professional and personal life. I never had a clue on what and where I was wrong. This was the life at the start of my career in this company, then later I was on top of the rank. I worked less hours still I was recognized and respected. It was just one small observation which helped me find that survival skills. By end of this page you will find it. Let’s get to the point now

We curse our managers who call us post working hours, we abuse them when they ask to work on weekends. Yeah really even I do that a lot. German Government recently enforced a law “Out of hours working banned by German labor ministry“. Just in few days it is viral now in Facebook and other social networks, poor corporate slaves here hear such news and gets hyper expecting some change in our country as well.

Ooolalaalaaa, sharing on facebook and twitter is not gonna change the law or MNC’s minds here. Jokes apart,

Have you ever thought why we are in this situation here? In German business culture, when an employee is at work, they should not be doing anything other than their work. Facebook, office gossip with co-workers, trolling Reddit for hours, and pulling up a fake spreadsheet when your boss walks by are socially unacceptable behaviors. Obviously, here these behaviors are frowned up on by management. But in Germany, there is zero tolerance among peers for such frivolous activities. So when a German is at work, they are focused and diligent, which in turn leads to higher productivity in a shorter period of time. They work hard and play hard. Since the working day is focused on delivering efficient productivity, the off hours are truly off hours. Because of the focused atmosphere and formal environment of German businesses, employees don’t necessarily hang out together after work. Germans generally value a separation between private life and working life. But here we always mix up both and make a nasty cocktail at the end.

Yeah I hear you now, it sounds fishy to compare us with Germans and others we are much more superior than any other country. Even I hate to read or hear such boring comparisons.. Let me get back to what happened to me

For last 3 years I use to work from home all 365 days. I was assigned on 3–4 different projects in different domains and locations. Going to office was out of scope and expectation. Saved time on getting ready, traveling to office etc and luckily I was alone all the time at home as well. No friends, family, personal commitments to bother me. Work eat sleep hangout on weekends repeat was my life. It turned out to be a success story, out of a blue one fine day I had a situation to go to office every day.

First day it was all fun with colleagues and managers, lots of hi and hello. I started to love the change and it went for a while. Then I realized my productivity is going down, started getting reminders and follow up mails. Since I dint want to lose my credibility I started slogging extra hours and weekends to meet the deadlines and expectations. It is not that I am promoting work from home here, let it be work from home or work from office if we can stick just to work for that 8 hours. We are successful, that is all that it requires. But sadly the fact is, most of the time in office is taken off discussing headlines of today’s newspaper, gossips, hearing and giving gyan to your peer’s personal problem with their managers etc etc.. I don’t blame my peer’s for these kind of discussions, it was a part of requirements by top companies HR’s. A serious note to HR’s: You should stop conducting this Group Discussion rounds in interview process, people are trained and have mastered in discussing and arguing on current affairs. They are just following it after getting their job as well with current affairs and others personal affairs.

Verdict: Employers should change, get more flexible and master resource and time management. And employees need to understand how to work smart and be more productive. And please get out of that Myth you still believe in.

Now I hear voices of people who are smart, resourceful and still forced to work extra hours. I hear you well, yes despite being smart and intelligent we are forced just because of the peers who stand on the other side and we are intercepted by management just because they don’t have much options than pushing us hard. This will change only when the employer and employee both get to the ethics shared above; Spread this knowledge, educate your peers and managers. Some day we will make a change to this work culture. Have a balanced life and make a better society.

Quote: *“Life is short* — don’t regret later for wasting it for a tomorrow that never comes, it makes much more sense to live in the present tense;”