Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Work at Office... Work Late or Work Smart..

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.


13 comments:

Zam said...

Kalau semua orang cam ni best gak.... office lepas 5.30 petang ...kosong...lengang..

he he he

Fendi said...

Salam..
emmhhhh...itu yg Ideal condition..kita start keje dan abis keje tepat pd waktu abis keje..prsoalannya sejauh mana kita buleh follow principle tuu..yg keje dgn `gomen' mungkin bulehla balik on time tp yg keje swasta cam kiter ni mungkin masalah sikit...time waktu keje abis tu la boss baru nak panggil meeting..ye dakk zammm...tapi aku respek kat satu company Germany sbb masa tahun 1996, masa tu aku keje kat Frankfurt Germany 2 bln ..haa time tu mmg management staff depa follow exactly the working time..tepat pkl 5 Boss2 depa halau semua staff p balik enjoy dgn family katanya...

..tu psl rakyat sebelah Europe depa punya style keje yg agak condusive...

P/S..ni semua salah kita gakk..selagi mkn gaji camni lahh..dok main dgn punch card..tp jika dulu kita rajin blajar dan ade company sendiri mcm Sosilawati maka suka hati kaulah nk keluar masuk pukul berapa..ye takk zamm..

Tina Kassim said...

Assalammualaikum,

Rose artikel ni... elok juga dijadikan panduan...

Sesekali aje balik lewat tak apa... jgn sampai hari-hari...

Boleh cuba pelan-pelan na!

zam said...

fendi,

memang betul apa ko cakap tu...

Tina,

kerja swasta camtu lah...

Rose said...

EEEEiiiii..hang pa bole la ckp ..korang semua boss . Rose cuma kuli .

SAPE kata.. cuba la dengo hati bisikan rintihan yg dahagakan time 5.00pm chao balik . Ko tahu kalu Rose balik agaknye apa yg jadi eikk..

Penah gak Rose balik paling awal 6.30 itupun ade emergency ..ko tau ape yg Rose rasa ..asal pelik je cuaca hari ..terang semcm ..selalu gelap gelita yg ade pun chya lip lap lip lap..Pelik sgt rasanye ..

Bole ta hang pa yg bernama Boss yg hansem 2 tolong la dengar rintihan org bwhan cam Rose ni ..keje jgn ler kasi byk2 ta fair n square .

Huhu ape pun hari ni Rose balik awal haha kol 9.00 pm .
Da la Rose na balik da ni.. baby Rose tak tngok mama dia da 4 hari ni ..cian lak ...

Rose ta mare cuma mengamuk skt hehe ...

Salam ..take care my dear.. my friend n my sweet heart opp at my home...

Tina Kassim said...

Assalamualaikum kengkawan,

Di sekolah Tina depa selalu kata kalau satu cikgu datang ontime (7.30 am) balik pun ontime (1.10 pm) maka dia tu seorang cikgu yang pandai kerja!

Tapi kalau sebaliknya datang awal dan pulang lewat.... tak pandai kerja!

So lebih kurang mcm Mr. Narayana Murthy cakap....

Bagi Tina semuanya ikut keperluan kerja. Kalau ada kerja yang urgent stay back juga sampai lewat petang!

Wassalam

Rose said...

Salam ...

Tapi Tina kat TAIYO nie berbeza tau ..

kalu yg balik awal JAPANESE member said not support so yg stay until midnight GOOD ..and they said Rossiah san GABATYE , GABATYE.

So camno ..

Tapi ingin gak " ADE LIFE " ..
Article tu memang bagos ..but ta bole practice kat sini sb keje ko adalh keje ko can't pass to the other kalu ta siap kena getah..ta tao la na expln... environment kat sini , style keje . LAIN ...\\

Betul ta Fendi ...

Fendi said...

Salam..
betoi tu Cik Rose...nak buat camne rose..tu lah pembahagian & rezeki tiap2 orang..ade yg dpt keje senang & ade yg keje nmpak susah..tp tak kisahlah..yg pnting ko still buleh bernafas & punya kebahagian hati dlm hidop..tak guna keje senang balik cepat tp HATI Gelisah..dan tak guna jugak kalo balik lmbat tp Hati tak pernah PUAS..so, pikirkan yg trbaik utk DIRI sbb pintu rezeki berada dikirikanandepan dan belakangmu...pilihlahhh ia mcm ko pergi beli brg kat Pasar Mlm tuuu..

..itu lebih baik jika kita lansung x der keje..org Indon,Bangla,Nepal sanggup merantau jauh demi sesuap nasi..So..????

Tina Kassim said...

Assalamualaikum Rose,

Untuk menjawab semua, Tina setuju dengan Fendi...

Cikgu walaupun boleh balik awal... kami selalunya sambung kerja kat rumah termasuklah stay up lewat malam dan kami juga selesaikan kerja weekend dan cuti sekolah...

Sebab cikgu tak ada ofis... tak boleh balik lewat malam!

Betul tak Ani?

siti rohani said...

Assalamualaikum!

Betullah tu, Tina. Takde keje yg 'mudah' kat dunia ni. Semua kita ada peranan dan saling melengkapi. Kena ada tolak ansur antara boss dgn kuli. Sama-sama hamba Allah kat muka bumi ni.

Resipi penulis ni memang bagus. But, it may not be applicable to all.

Wassalam.

Rose said...

Emmmm..

bagos gak articles ni pabila dikupas dek kekawan yg bijak sana ..

Thank a lot...

Zam said...

Anie, Rose, Tina, Fendi,

Artikel ni bagus dan dah terbukti kat syarikat Narayana. Kalau nak kenal siapa dia ni silalah google kan Narayana Murthy.

Apa yang diperkatakan oleh artikel ini adalah sesuatu yang praktikal. Walaubagaimanapun, terpulanglah kepada organisasi syarikat yang memimpinnya. Hendak seribu daya tak hendak seribu dalih. Bak kata Adnan Sempit di mana ada jalan di situ ada highway.

Yang perlu kita fahami ialah konsep sesuatu perkara yang cuba diperkenalkan itu.

Jadi kalau ada yang buka kompeni sendiri nanti... cuba2 lah ikut jejak langkah Mr Narayana .

"Kecekapan sesuatu organisasi itu bergantung kepada kecekapan kakitangan melaksanakan tugasnya- adakah ia work smart atau work hard terpulanglah...." -petikan kata-kata Ylmaz.

Fendi said...

Salam...

Zam, thanks a lot pasai taruk ini article dlm ini blog..you are brilliant guy..

Ani betoi, tina betoi, rose betoi, Lan betoi, Boy betoi...sumua betoii..akhir sekali tepok dada tanya selera..nak work smart ka, work hard ka..yg pnting HATI gumbira & rezeki halal...