It was in the early afternoon. The people in the workshop, the lecturers and students alike, were busy with work to do. This was not the place to laze around, although the warmer-than-usual seem to have induced a sleeping spell on everyone who had less than the average eight hours of sleep the night before, maybe. The stale air wondered around the place, with only huge, rusted fans swirling from different corners to push the air around. There was not a chance for the wind from mother nature herself to blow into the place, until much later, perhaps. The thermometer sat silently on the wall, although mouthless, it had the urge to shout the temperature to everyone. Thirty-three point five degrees. If that was not obvious, the people looking uncomfortable in their laboratory coats was. Valves...
Non-existent narratives aside, the EPPS kidz are having camp now. In the school itself. Doing camp stuff. Which is loud. Whatever happened to Labrador Park. Anyway they'll probably start entering their tents later at night, and then it'll rain. Hm, okay no the night sky's fine, there's practically no wind now too.
I seriously don't know what my brother is doing nowadays. He came back at 4am yesterday, with school still on today, been missing practically all of his morning lessons and is actually (something drastic). What. The.
******
(And, if you are actually free.)
WHY WE SHOULD GO HOME ON TIME
Mr. Narayana Murthy is undoubtedly one of the most famous persons from Karnataka. He is known not just for building the biggest IT empire in India but also for his simplicity. Almost every important dignitary visits Infosys campus. He delivered an interesting speech during an employee session with another IT company in India. He is incidentally, one of the top 50 Influential 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. Some people do so because of a work emergency where the long hours are only temporary. 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 in the office this long. Others put in long office hours because they are addicted to the workplace.
Whatever the reason for putting in overtime, working long hours over the long 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 hours frequently make mistakes caused by fatigue.
Correcting these mistakes requires 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 on Monday. Another problem is that people who are in the office long hours are not pleasant company. They often complain about other people (who aren't working as hard); they are irritable, or cranky, or even angry. Other people avoid them. Such behavior poses problems, where work goes much better when people work together instead of avoiding one another.
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. I work with a manager who chides people for working long hours. His words quickly lose their meaning when he sends these chiding group e-mails with a time-stamp of 2 AM, Sunday.
Second is to encourage people to put some balance in their lives. For instance, here is 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 with your kids, etc.
5) Eat well and sleep well.
This is called recreating. Doing steps 1, 3, 4, and 5 enable step 2.
