Indian Work Culture ?
I keep getting this mail as a forward, and it’s contents reflect my views too. Have a look at the mail.
Mail sent by Narayan Murthy to all Infosys staff:
It’s half past 8 in the office but the lights are still on…
PCs still running, coffee machines still buzzing…
And who’s at work? Most of them ??? Take a closer look…All or most specimens are ??
Something male species of the human race…Look closer… again all or most of them are bachelors…
And why are they sitting late? Working hard? No way!!!
Any guesses???
Let’s ask one of them…
Here’s what he says… “What’s there 2 do after going home…Here we get to surf, AC, phone, food, coffee that is why I am working late…Importantly no bossssssss!!!!!!!!!!!”This is the scene in most research centers and software companies and other off-shore offices.
Bachelors “Time-passing” during late hours in the office just bcoz they say they’ve nothing else to do…
Now what r the consequences…“Working” (for the record only) late hours soon becomes part of the institute or company culture.
With bosses more than eager to provide support to those “working” late in the form of taxi vouchers, food vouchers and of course good feedback, (oh, he’s a hard worker… goes home only to change..!!).
They aren’t helping things too…To hell with bosses who don’t understand the difference between “sitting” late and “working” late!!!
Very soon, the boss start expecting all employees to put in extra working hours.
So, My dear Bachelors let me tell you, life changes when u get married and start having a family… office is no longer a priority, family is… and
That’s when the problem starts… b’coz u start having commitments at home too.For your boss, the earlier “hardworking” guy suddenly seems to become a “early leaver” even if u leave an hour after regular time… after doing the same amount of work.
People leaving on time after doing their tasks for the day are labelled as work-shirkers…
Girls who thankfully always (its changing nowadays… though) leave on time are labelled as “not up to it”. All the while, the bachelors pat their own backs and carry on “working” not realizing that they r spoiling the work culture at their own place and never realize that they would have to regret at one point of time. **
**
So what’s the moral of the story??
* Very clear, LEAVE ON TIME!!!
* Never put in extra time " unless really needed “
* Don’t stay back unnecessarily and spoil your company work culture which will in turn cause inconvenience to you and your colleagues.
There are hundred other things to do in the evening..Learn music…
Learn a foreign language…
Try a sport… TT, cricket………
- And for heaven’s sake, net cafe rates have dropped to an all-time low (plus, no fire-walls) and try cooking for a change.
Take a tip from the Smirnoff ad: *“Life’s calling, where are you??"*
Please pass on this message to all those colleagues and please do it before leaving time, don’t stay back till midnight to forward this!!!
IT’S A TYPICAL INDIAN MENTALITY THAT WORKING FOR LONG HOURS MEANS VERY HARD WORKING & 100% COMMITMENT ETC.PEOPLE WHO REGULARLY SIT LATE IN THE OFFICE DON’T KNOW TO MANAGE THEIR TIME. SIMPLE !
Regards,
NARAYAN MURTHY.
Now whether is mail was really sent by N R Narayan Murthy or not remains a mystery, but this mail makes a lot of sense, irrespective of which field you’re working in, and this situation is more common in our much “revered” software industry.
Of the entire mail forward, the below section really hits the nail on the head as to why you should leave on time
To hell with bosses who don’t understand the difference between “sitting” late and “working” late!!!Very soon, the boss start expecting all employees to put in extra working hours.
So, My dear Bachelors let me tell you, life changes when u get married and start having a family… office is no longer a priority, family is… and
That’s when the problem starts… b’coz u start having commitments at home too.For your boss, the earlier “hardworking” guy suddenly seems to become a “early leaver” even if u leave an hour after regular time… after doing the same amount of work.
People leaving on time after doing their tasks for the day are labelled as work-shirkers…
Take my office for instance - I have a team mate who regularly used to stay back till 21:30 - 22:00 with the same reason as mentioned above(“What to do going home yaar, I’ll surf the net or something here”). Now he’s facing the consequences of his late-stay, as the Manager has taken for granted that he’ll be there no matter what. When I joined the team - the first thing I was told my by other team mates was always leave on time - and I’ve followed that, except on occasions when things demanded me staying back. Now that team mate of mine complains that he can’t go early home - to me that is. He doesn’t say a word to the Manager, when the manager asks him to stay late. Of course, the Manager isn’t forcing him to stay - he just says, you’ll be be there right? And this fellow silently nods his head. Not even one utterance of No. This kinda late stay has become a habit of sorts in our office, and it really irks me when I leave on time at 18:45, people ask “Leaving early?”, to which I politely and strongly shoot back - “No, I’m leaving on time”.
So I echo the same sentiment which is reflected in the mail: Leave on time! Don’t make it a habit to stay back late to “finish pending work” - it’s highly unlikely you’ll do that given that you’re mentally tired and aren’t likely to come up with a solution to your problem. Instead you’ll cause inconvenience to others who leave on time and yet are seen as “early leavers”