Work Life Balance:
Thursday
May 8, 2012
Yesterday I was supposed to discuss the issue with a
developer in my office.
I could not find her on desk, so I returned back.
While coming back I did not come to my seat, instead I found
a quiet corner in the canteen. And there I stayed for about 15 mins.
It was nearly 5 PM .
First thing that stroked to my mind was , what was I doing
here, what is that I can achieve.
I start my day at in office at 12:30 PM and end it close to
9:00 PM (since this is client location and I have to abide by client location
rules)
The first three things that come to me of working late in
office is:
- People really have that much of work and hence they stay late
- People are asked to stay late , as the team leads or others want to show to client that my team mates work really hard
- People choose to stay late , as they enjoy all the facilities of office like free internet, playing games like TT, Carrom , etc.
For the people who fall in first
category , all I can say from my experience is – they really have work
and they stay late, but this should applicable to 2-3 months in a year , when
there are some project sign-off dates, some deadline to be achieved, etc. This
cannot continue for a year.
This is what my experience says.
For the people who fall in second
category, I feel sad about those people.
Sad about the management who thinks that staying late will
result in better productivity and better results. As a manager the most
important trait is to learn how to say NO. A manager or a leader should not
always say YES to make client happy. They should clearly state that this can be
done and this cannot be.
Also staying late in office will result in more charges to
company.
E.g.
1. Staying late
in office would consume more electricity and more bill in terms of rupees and
dollars
2. Staying late
reduces the productivity in long term. Most of the work can be completed in 9
AM to 2PM , best time to get good things done
- Staying late would result in more water consumption in offices, and water is precious now a days
For the people who fall in third
category, much cannot be done. This category holds mostly people who are
just college pass outs, freshers, etc. Initially they enjoy this but in the
long run this spoils life.
End of the day or week, my idea is to show that how much
valuable / quality time you give to yourself, or to your family or to your
friends. The answer is less than 2 hour in 5 working days.
By the time you reach home, it is already 8:30 PM or 9:30 PM
and then you take half an hour to get freshen up. The only thing you can do
after this is to eat and then sleep. (Considering that you get up early in the
morning say 7 AM or before )
And if you sleep after 12 AM or 1 AM, then in the long run
it is also not good.
This bad habit of sleeping late and getting up late in the
morning is the result of bad schedule and ultimately bad health.
Remember the days, when Mummy and Papa used to say that
early to sleep and early to rise, is the way to be healthy wealthy and wise.
But now what we are following is just reverse.
There was an old saying, that a sound body has sound mind.
And we being in this field, should stay healthy (both mind
and body)
Earlier heart disease, blood pressure problems were rare,
but now these problems are so general that people in the mid 30's are getting
attacked by these problems. Which is not a good sign?
And in the end if some-one fights up to come early and leave
early from office, then the manager says , you are leaving so early buddy ?
This gives an impression that you should stay late.
One example from TCS Kolkata,
With average work load, I used to follow a schedule of 9-6
PM ( this means that I am completing all the tasks of that day) , but the trend
in that project was just reverse, people used to come at 11: 30 AM and then
after it check mail and go for a tea break from for 20 mins and then come back
to seat and just analyze the work. After it there is a lunch time. So till 2:30
PM no work is done. After that those people used to stay till 10: 30 or 11: 00
or may be late, to complete their tasks.
When I argued that, why can this not be done in regular
timings, then someone told that , it is crime to leave the office by 6 PM in
this project.
This kind of
practice has spoiled the IT industry.
Today also, I am attending
a meeting at a client site, which is of least relevance to me.
People here want QA team to attend these development
meetings.
If we are given freedom, then we can understand these things
at a separate time slot by dev team and in a much less time. But only these
people knows, that why are we required to be
in this meeting.
Sometimes dev people ask or comment, that what do QA
understand from all of this. This is funny situation.
In the end all I would like to say is , give the priority to
your life and to other’s life as well.
If we keep working like this till 50 years of age, then we
will gain nothing really nothing.
People at the top level management should be excellent in
planning and building estimates, so that the life of others is not a in problem
always.
All I want from my life is
1.
Time for family and me
2.
Time to enjoy
3.
In the end a satisfaction at the end of every
day.
I know this is was quite long to read and someone who is
professional can write much better than this , but this just my way of
expressing my thoughts.
