Sunday, September 28, 2008

Email from the boss

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..... ....
Importantly, get a girl friend or boy friend, take him/her around town...
* 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

16 comments:

Reflections said...

I've read this before.....ohh yesss, so true....I myself have been guilty of doing this:-D

Jayashree said...

Very true.

Salomie said...

I remember facing the same mindset as a student - people always say that if you're in 10th or 12th standard, you should be studying all day long. Luckily for me, my mom believed in quality over quantity, so as long as we finished what we said we would do, the rest of the time was free. There's no point in pretending; life's too short and too full of beautiful things to waste it away like this.

Anonymous said...

superb!
working long hrs=working hard is a myth..

the new age mantra is working SMART

moreovr, in India ur not paid for the extra hrs u put in..u work overtime but ur not compensated

Renu said...

Reflections: yes it must be circulating, i just thought ,it was worth sharing:)

jayshree: :)

Shalom: From nineth onward, i studies in a different town, so my parents were never there to watch, they just saw the results:), but they had so much faith in me that sometimes my dad took me to a movie, even 2 days before the exam:)

Swats: The way they say in MLM--work smart:)
U know once i used to grudge my H the extra hrs he put in, because workers used to get overtime:(, but no such thing for officers:)

Jiggy said...

Yeah but Renu, in some jobs you have to put in long hours. there is no other alternative.
But I myself am not a fan of long hours at all. Infact, I would so love it if I could just work from home only...hehehe...

Smriti said...

Recently we'd an e-mail from one of our bosses that the need of the hour was to clock in few more hours and my first reaction to my manager was that what use is it if I stay in the office for 12 hours but work for only an hour :).

Renu said...

Smriti: Offices wil have to differentiate between sitting late and working late:)

Rebel: I know very well Rebel, my H being in a manufaturing industry, he is always there in the office, 12 hrs minimum, sometimes may be more. But still i feel that time and work management, if efficiently done can certainly reduce the hrs.
ur wish may get fulfilled, because now many companies are allowing work from home:)

Balvinder Balli said...

We had one Brigade Commander in Ladakh who had installed a hooter in the office area(the type which is normally used in the factories for sounding the shift changing). The hooter would be sounded at dot 1.30 pm to alert the officers that it was lunch time. So the officers working at different locations in the Brigade would rush to the officers' mess to have lunch in time so that all could have lunch together.

Anonymous said...

8 Hours serious work is enough.
If we put extra time, may be there is too much of unorganized work or may be we dont know time-management.
There are so many unemployed people, why dont they provide after 8 hours work to them.
Actually there is only two things :
Unorganized work
Do not know time-management
:)

Renu said...

Hobo: I also believe in the same, that if work is more, employ more people,It will be a different form of socialism, but none should be allowed to stay for more than 8 hrs.

It will bring a quality to the life of people and even distribute the wealth, which is getting accumulated in certain pockets only.
I feel amazed at logic of recruiting corporates also, when they give unheard of money to a few candidates, do they really think that a single person can change the future,however good he might be? My experience says that company works because of the team effort, most of the times individuals dont matter much.

Anonymous said...

There are a lot of people who enjoy work and are willing to put 10-12 hours plus a day. There are also a set of people who want to work more to grow faster in their careers. People who fall under the above categories which incidentally is very high, often dont want to admit it for fear of family or fear to admit, and hide behind the 'I cannot get out of the mess' or 'I have to do it' excuses.

PS : I hope you also know that NRN did not send out such a mail. Ask any Infoscion - he is a proponent of putting more hours and rewards such people more!

Renu said...

Shaji; very true!
I am of the old generation and I believe in being always truthful and so I never question the emails coming to me, poor me always believing them to be true, never doubting for a second even to be fakes,now i will think twice before believing them.
And if NRN is rewarding the people according their working(staying) hrs, I wudnt say that he is starting a good trend:(.

Sukku said...

wow thank you for sharing this post...I should send this to my MD who was suspended as he keeps odd hours and he expects us to do the same too...mind if I copy this article from you....

Renu said...

Suku: Thanks:)
I dont mind at all if u copy it,or send it, because i want my ideas to reach evrybody, but for this mail, as u must have read in the comment by Shaaji..it wasnt written by NRN, and I cant say anything about its authenticity, as I got it thru email only.

Sukku said...

Thank you

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