Friday, August 21, 2009

Work Culture and H1N1

I've been part of the Indian corporate world for over a decade. In this decade, I have seen that, without exception, showing up at work when sick (particularly with fever) will get you rated as a star performer and great team player.

I always fail to understand how you are a team player if you can potentially make every other person fall ill or a star performer if your productivity is seriously compromised due to a fuzzy brain. Then again, such are the ways of the world...

Until ... H1N1 :-)

Somebody I know trooped in to work after having had a 102 F fever (no it wasn't H1N1) the previous evening and was asked to go back by the Project Manager for fear of passing it on to other people :-D

It took something like H1N1 to rock the foundation of Indian work culture. Does that say something?

2 comments:

  1. just to clarify, i did NOT go into work to impress my colleagues/project manager

    after the medicines (antibiotic, paracetamol etc) of the previous night when the fever dropped off that night itself and by morning after sleeping a lot I felt fine, I did debate whether to stay at home and if i had been given a laptop/work-from-home access i would definitely have worked from home, but without that option I thought i would be REALLY bored at home so I thought what the hell let me just go..note again, i didnt have fever anymore and was feeling fine..and also note, i didnt have any cold or cough which could spread to other ppl so i didnt feel i was a risk to others..

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  2. Dear "Anonymous",

    This blog post does NOT imply that the person who went to work did so to impress. Instead it talks of a WORK CULTURE that ignores the health of the majority and idolizes martyrdom.

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