WHY WE SHOULD GO HOME ON TIME...

kee1111 · PJNet Newbie Joined: Oct 16, 2006 Posts: 20

Mr. Narayana Murthy is undoubtedly one of the most
famous persons from Karnataka. He is known not just
for building the biggest IT Empire in India but also
for his simplicity. Almost every important dignitary
visits InfoSys campus. He delivered an interesting
speech during an employee session with another IT
company in India. He is incidentally, one of the
top 50 influential people of Asia according to an
Asiaweek publication and also the new IT Advisor to
the Thailand Prime Minister.

Extract of Mr. Narayana Murthy's Speech during
Mentor Session:

I know people who work 12 hours a day, six days a
week, or more. Some people do so because of a work
emergency where the long hours are only temporary.

Other people I know have put in these hours for
years. I do not know if they are working all these
hours, but I do know they are in the office this
long.

Others put in long office hours because they are
addicted to the workplace. Whatever the reason for
putting in overtime, working long hours over the
long term is harmful to the person and to the
organization. There are things managers can do to
change this for everyone's benefit. Being in the
office long hours, over long periods of time,
makes way for potential errors.

My colleagues who are in the office long hours
frequently make mistakes caused by fatigue.
Correcting these mistakes requires their time as
well as the time and energy of others. I have
seen people work Tuesday through Friday to correct
mistakes made after 5 PM on Monday.

Another problem is that people who are in the
office long hours are not pleasant company. They
often complain about other people (who are not
working as hard); they are irritable, or cranky,
or even angry. Other people avoid them. Such
behaviour poses problems, where work goes much
better when people work together instead of
avoiding one another.

As Managers, there are things we can do to help
people leave the office.

First and foremost is to set the example and go home
ourselves. I work with a manager who chides people
for working long hours.

His words quickly lose their meaning when he sends
these chiding group e-mails with a time-stamp of
2 AM, Sunday.

Second is to encourage people to put some balance in
their lives. For instance, here is a guideline I
find helpful:

1) Wake up, eat a good breakfast, and go to work.
2) Work hard and smart for eight or nine hours.
3) Go home.
4) Read the books/comics, watch a funny movie, dig
in the dirt, play with your kids, etc.
5) Eat well and sleep well.

This is called recreating. Doing steps 1, 3, 4,
and 5 enable step 2.

Working regular hours and recreating daily are
simple concepts. They are hard for some of us
because that requires 'personal change'. They are
possible since we all have the power to choose to
do them.

In considering the issue of overtime, I am
reminded of my oldest son. When he was a toddler,
if people were visiting the apartment, he would
not fall asleep no matter how long the visit was,
and no matter what time of day it was. He would
fight off sleep until the visitors left. It was
as if he was afraid that he would miss some
thing. Once our visitors' left, he would go to
sleep. By this time, however, he was over tired
and would scream through half the night with
nightmares. He, my wife, and I, all paid the
price for his fear of missing out.

Perhaps some people put in such long hours
because they do not want to miss anything when
they leave the office. The trouble with this
is that events will never stop happening..
That is life! Things happen 24 hours a day.

Allowing for little rest is not ultimately
practical. So, take a nap. Things will happen
while you are asleep, but you will have the
energy to catch up when you wake.

Hence,
"LOVE YOUR JOB, BUT NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH
YOUR COMPANY BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN THE
COMPANY STOPS LOVING YOU" -

waiwai · Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 12:59 pm Post subject:

To add: look at the process.. a proper process will prevent ppl to work long hrs..
work efficiently & effectively...

Do things right in the 1st place and do it correctly..