FROM HERE AND THERE………………. An answer to a comment on my status “ The Trouble Tree” Quote : Priyanka Nale Nice article Ajay Uncle! Would love to share. But what about the corporates like us we take their laptops & blackberries home? Should we be hanging them on the trouble trees as well... ? Just a thought, now that we are expected to answer emails on phones, even at odd hours ... @ Priyanka: Two things: Firstly: Is it laid down in your terms and conditions of service that you have to carry your Laptop and Cell phone home to attend to calls? Secondly does your job description entail you to work from home? If the answer is no then there is no need to hang your Black berries and LT’s on the trouble Tree, because you can lock them up in your drawer on your cube farm. 1. The three major behavior patterns of work that interferes with personal life are unhappiness with the amount of time for non – work activities, followed by missing personal activities due to work and finally putting personal life on hold because of work. 2. The two major factors impacting the work-life balance of employees are, feeling exhausted at the end of a days work and quitting their jobs or taking a career break because of work-life balance issues. 3. Major work related factors interfering with personal life, are carrying company cell phones/Laptops home so that the employees can be reached after normal business hours, and checking e-mail or voice mail at home after returning from work. Do you always quote ““On any given day, I never leave office before 7 PM and so does everybody else”, “We can be expected to work on weekends as well, and nobody refuses. It’s just how it works or that is how things are done out here.” Well then think some more. Remember the 5 monkey story? An experiment was conducted in which five monkeys were placed in a cage together with a banana hanging high on a rope outside the reach of the monkeys. A step ladder was placed in the cage that would enable the monkeys to reach the banana. Whenever one of the monkeys attempted to climb and reach for the banana, ALL monkeys were sprayed with freezing cold water. After a few attempts, all the monkeys learned the association between reaching for the banana and the group collective punishment of being sprayed with freezing water. There was no longer need for the water; no monkeys would attempt to reach the banana. The researcher then replaced one of the five monkeys with a new monkey. The new monkey, not aware of the icy water treatment, tried to reach for the banana. Within a fraction of a second the other four monkeys attacked him again and again, until he no longer tried to reach the banana. One by one, the monkeys who had experienced the original icy water treatment were replaced by a new monkey. With the introduction of each new monkey, the other monkeys would attack him until he quit trying for the banana. Eventually, the cage was populated by five new monkeys, none who had experienced the icy water treatment. The experimenter then introduced a new monkey to the cage. When this monkey tried to reach for the banana, all five monkeys attacked him. The story goes that even though none of these monkeys knew about the collective punishment of icy water, as they had never experienced it, somewhere along the way they learnt that reaching for bananas is not allowed. They become the guardians of this rule without knowing its origin and purpose. Culture is created over time, and often habits and practices are instilled and repeated without anyone knowing the origin of the behavior. But just to be accepted, most people diligently follow these behaviors, or the others in the group will work to reinforce and maintain the current culture. If “That isn’t how we do things here,” ask the question “Why?” A normal day’s work should be from 9 AM to 5 PM but that rarely works for a good percentage of employees. Most work beyond the office hours, and leaving office two hours late appears to be the norm in many organizations. Alternately the boss stays on so we have to. It is no secret that professionals do work hard, with heavy workloads. This kind of overtime takes its toll on employees. Employee burnout due to work overload and overtime is a common phenomenon. Working longer hours than what the contract stipulates may become a part of life but it does lead to burnout, and the suffering only aggravates when there is no reward in cash or kind. Generally employees work longer than their contracted hours. In fact statistically one in four works overtime every day of the week in any multinational. Working a few extra hours when required should be an acceptable proposition for employees, the problem arises when it becomes the norm rather than exception. Nevertheless, time-management has a big role to play here. The problem can largely be contained if employees are efficient and smart enough to finish their work on time. Salaried workers should be able to complete their work in the allocated time outlined in their contract. Of course, there are times when employees would be expected to work overtime to manage spikes in workloads, and most employees would be happy to oblige. Employees have to look at their efficiencies, how can they get their job done in less time? If employees are honest with themselves about their own productivity and put in place time-saving processes, one may find overtime is unnecessary. Overtime should not be grudged if it’s once in a while. Most companies expect their employees to be a little flexible when it comes to working a little extra and beyond the standard hours. Employers don’t like clock watchers. But if employees believe the quantum of work is increasing beyond their scope and longer days have become the norm, they need to sit down with their boss and thrash the issue out before it becomes too frustrating for them and starts affecting their productivity. In such a situation, employees should raise this with their boss and explain that either an increase in salary is fair to compensate for additional hours or additional support is required. I remember my daughter Manorama, who used to work for Schneider Electric out of Grenoble, France, saying that while working in France she used to feel a bit frustrated as nobody would wait even a minute more than the stipulated time after office hours, carrying work home was a far cry, unless it was an emergency. Further on Friday evenings preceding the week end, all employees would literally disappear from the “Face of the earth”. Beaches mostly. I have seen Vietnam a very poor developing country, very closely and for long periods. I find even though being a Communist Country, peoples private life is highly respected vis a vis work. In short even they have got their Life-Work Balance right. Sometimes I feel something went wrong in our typical Indians Psyche while trying to adjust to cultures of a new age company. It is we Indians I find, who tend to carry work home, mix up private time with work, so also carry an emotional chip on shoulders regarding performance. Our ideas about Integrity and looking good are I think totally misplaced. It is also my observation that sometimes, Indians carry work home in terms of LT and Cell phones to escape from too many joint family members and rituals, which to them become unbearable at times, so work affords a good escape route. Lastly I also find that Indians always bring emotions into play all the time. Meaning whatever they do, work, family, looking after parents dealing with subordinates and bosses, it is always looked at from an emotional plane or very close to carrying out emotional blackmail. Maybe with self or with others. Bringing emotions into everything is never a good idea. No doubt that emotions are an intrinsic part of our biological make up, and every morning they march into the office with us and influence our behavior. They play a significant role in the kind of work an employee produces, and the relationship he or she enjoys in the organization. Yet one has to have a pragmatic view of Work/life balance. In its broadest sense, Work/life balance is defined as a satisfactory level of involvement or ‘fit’ between the multiple roles in a person’s life. In this climate managing the boundary between home and work is becoming more challenging. Organizations have to ensure they not just encourage but mandate a practical and workable work/life balance policy, benefiting and meeting the needs of both the organization and its employees. Organizations not providing real opportunity for employees work/life balance are opening themselves up to increasing numbers of dissatisfied and unproductive employees and hence increased attrition rates. Merely creating a work/life policy framework is not enough; fostering an organizational culture that supports the use of available policies is also of great importance. Further there is a need for employers and employees alike to find flexible and innovative solutions that maximize productivity without damaging employees well – being, their family relationships and other aspects of life.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 06:38:43 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015