Love your job?
Mr. Narayana Murthy is undoubtedly one of the most famous persons fromKarnataka. He is known not just for building the biggest IT empire in India but also for his simplicity. Almost every important dignitaryvisits Infosys campus. He delivered an interesting speech during anemployee session with another IT company in India. He is incidentally,one of the top 50 Influencial 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. Somepeople do so because of a work emergency where the long hours are onlytemporary. Other people I know have put in these hours for years. I don't know if they are working all these hours, but I do know they are inthe office this long. Others put in long office hours because they areaddicted to the workplace.
Whatever the reason for putting in overtime, working long hours over thelong 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 hoursfrequently make mistakes caused by fatigue. Correcting these mistakesrequires 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 onMonday.
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. Second is to encourage people to put some balance in their lives. For instance, hereis 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 withyour 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.
Perhaps some people put in such long hours because they don't want to miss anything when they leave the office. The trouble with this is that eventswill never stop happening. That is life!! Things happen 24 hours a day.
Allowing for little rest is not ultimately practical. So, take a nap.Things will happen while you're asleep, but you will have the energy tocatch up when you wake.
Hence...
"LOVE YOUR JOB, BUT NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR COMPANY BECAUSE YOUNEVER KNOW WHEN THE COMPANY STOPS LOVING YOU" -- Narayana Murthy
posted by kelly @ 9/04/2006 03:52:00 PM
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