The hours that a person works is now his personal badge of honor. People routinely "joke" (brag is the correct word) about the hours that they work. Sometimes it seems like a contest, the winner being the moron who works the most hours.
So, what happens "at "work" between 9-to-9 (or 10 or 11, depending on the individual in question)? My observations:
- People who work late also tend to walk in late in the morning, thus losing the most productive part of a workday. The excuse is the long hours spent at work the previous evening.
- They begin their day by checking email, yahoo, gmail, facebook, news, etc., followed by a cup of coffee and some chit-chat.
- Then they begin to do serious work -- it is about 11 am or later by now.
- Breakfast was hours ago, so pretty soon it's time for a noon time snack.
- Back to work, not very productive, since they've just eaten and anyway who can concentrate at noon?
- Lunch by about 2.30 pm.
- Some more work
- Tea
- Work
- Snacks
- Rush and scramble to meet the overdue deadline
There was a time (when I was growing up) and my father went to work -- he left office when work hours ended and got home in time to see and talk to us kids.
So, was my father less productive than the people today? I don't think so!
Excellent point made.
ReplyDeleteMay be I shouldn't feel too guilty to point out to people who "work" from "9 to 9" that I do pretty much the same things they do at "work" when they ask me what I do with all "my free time" by sitting at home and NOT going to "work".
Part of the reason why I left my previous organization was that I hated their work culture. They believed in not only working from 9am to 9pm, but also from 9pm to 9am, almost as if we (the employees) are machines who do not need to go to home or need some rest and sleep. I wanted to have a life beyond my office, where I could relax for a couple of hours every day.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting that time in my current organization. Over a period of time, I know I will get more work responsibilities here as well, but their work culture suggests that I won't be in as much stress as I was in my last company. This also explains to some extent the high employee retention rate of my present company.
Flexibility to work is also an added bonus. I sometimes reach office as early as 7.30am, get to work and finish off bulk of my work by lunch time. It helps me clear my workstation well in time for my evening bus home.