By Santhosh Sebastian, DGS AISBIEA
Working long hours, even beyond your designated work hours, is often misconstrued as a measure of ‘dedication’. Putting in extra hours is wrongly termed as ‘hard work’ these days. Some consider leaving office at the end of your regular work hours as ‘lack of commitment’. For some, staying back late is a tool to display their ‘sincerity’ or ‘loyalty’
We have recently heard of corporate tycoons advocating 72 hours or 90 hours of hard labour from our workforce every week. The argument is covered in a flavour of patriotism, as they are asking this to the young generation for the progress of our country. In other words, those demand and practice fixed work hours of labour, are less patriotic or anti-national.
Leave them aside, who want to multiply their wealth using blood and sweat of poor workers. Let us discuss, how long we shall work and why ?
What marks any work as special is the quality of work, rather than the time taken for completing it. It is all about meeting deadlines and delivering results. Being accountable is more important than being available for extra time. Being honest, ethical and transparent is also important. Working long hours does not always equate to productivity or efficiency. Inefficient work habits could be a valid reason for inability to complete work within prescribed hours.
A section of our workforce is addicted to sitting late for no reasons of benefit to themselves and the organisation. This needs to be addressed as a cultural issue. Another set of employees use this sitting late to brand themselves as more loyal and sincere in front of their bosses.
Some of our colleagues work late, out of fear of being branded as a ‘poor team person’. It is a wrong notion. Teamwork demands performance of each team member within their own role and allocated time and creating a positive environment.
Excessive overtime can lead to physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion seriously affecting health, relationships, family life, morale and social life. This negative work-life balance can impact overall well-being and productivity of the employee.
Managements are promoting extra hours, primarily to cover up the inadequacy in staff strength. They also have their eyes on cost benefits through under employment and over deployment.
‘Work hours discipline’ is important for correct assessment of requiment of labour. Employment generation and recruitment depends on this assessment. For us, the fixed work hours is sacrosanct as settled right and not negotiable at all. It cannot be exchanged for any allurements. All realistic timelines, tasks, goals and targets achievable within the regular working hours are acceptable. But unrealistic targets set by some over ambitious executives cannot become a reason to alter our work timings
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We need to prioritize ‘quality’ over ‘quantity’ and ‘results’ over ‘hype’. Focus on delivering high-quality work and services within regular working hours. Contribute maximum, but do not compromise on basic rights
