Thought of The Day

Thought of The Day

Interesting but rare and unusual to hear this from a CEO of No.2 IT
company in India...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
don't 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 aren't
working as hard); they are irritable, or cranky, or even angry. Other
people avoid them. Such behaviour poses problems, especially in an area
like IT, 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. (This is important)
3) Go home.
4) Read the 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, 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 something. 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 don't 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're asleep, but you will have the energy to
catch up when you wake.

So now think about what u read, and decide wisely

Have a nice day!!!