Work Life Balance

 In the modern world we keep working day and night to make a good living. In the wake of making a good living we lose our precious family. Family is one which will stand by our side during any kind of odd hours for our well being and happiness. People who we meet in our professional life are only colleagues. In the office the top management may often refer to us as their family like Google Family, Microsoft Family etc. They call us only as employees and not as brother, sister, aunt, uncle etc. So it is clear that they will never stand by us during the need of time. It is just a business.

So what is a work life balance??

Work life balance is providing the required time for both work and personal well being. Only if we are happy and relaxed we will be able to work effectively. To have a happy life we need to give the required rest both physically and mentally. A mental well being is something which is utmost important for any human to have a healthy work life balance.

Certain basics which we are in need to understand is that, no organization is functioning because of one person. No projects are operational because of one employee. If an employee quits an organization there will be a good farewell speech, a farewell party and gifts. Next day someone else will replace the employee in order to continue the tasks that were assigned that particular employee. But a loss in a family is a loss forever and there is no replacement. Hence, working day and night at the cost of your loved ones will not add any value.

Furthermore, we increase the commitments based on our income rather than our need. Income increases to a certain extent based on the inflation of the country. As we find that the number is increased, we hop on to buy a new house, car, expensive house holds, etc. and end up in paying huge loans. In the fear of repayment of loans we continue to work day and night. But in turn we never spend any valuable time with those who love us. This leads to minimal attention to kids and their reduced performance in their studies. All these will lead to a spoilt future.

Many might have heard their managers saying frequently that they had worked for long hours without breaks or rest. Remember, those days have passed and they have set a wrong precedence that working long hours will pay good.

If we are delegating work to our sub ordinates, we should always remember that they too have a family to live with. Even bachelors have parents with whom they need to spend some valuable time. If we load them with excess work loads their productivity will be reduced. Provide them work based on their ability and set realistic targets. This will lead to encouragement for the youngsters to work honestly and give the desired outputs. Innovative ideas pop out when the brain has some rest and not when it is overloaded.

So what are the measures one can adopt to overcome these???

First, understand the working hours of the organization. If someone says there is no closing hours in the organization follow the one stated by the Government. Once the time is done take a leave. There will be some pending work always. The organization is not about to be closed if a small portion of the work is completed the next day.

Second, start saying NO to unrealistic targets. Taking up all the targets like a pile will not yield good results. Good productivity is more important than the number of targets that we behold.

Third, if there are pending tasks or if the task is allotted in the end of the day, better give an intimation that the same shall be continued the next working day.

Fourth, never work once you reach home. Because we hardly spend time with our family. In a week of 168 hours, we spend at least 72 hours in office and commutation to office, 42 hours of sleep (insufficient sleep) and 8- 10 hours in our morning preparation to office. We hardly spend 40 hours with our family members which is way less than the duration we provide for office. If we take further calculate the weekly shopping and stuff, we don't even have time to set some healthy conversations.

Fifth, limit office calls only to office. As we are working in far away locations, do spend some time to talk with parents and siblings over call once home. This will really help in connecting yourself.

Sixth, limit the commitments to your need rather than based on salary. For example, if you wish to buy a house for a family of 4, buy a 2BHK. Don't buy a 3BHK or Villa which is too much for a family and ending up additional maintenance expenses and all other related expenses. Buy a small car rather than a luxury car or big car. Get things for the house which are useful rather than for the extravagant features that are available.

Seventh, Utilize the leaves granted by the organization and not by the managers. Plan the leave and give prior intimation. Adhere to the HR policies rather than the Manager policies.

Eighth, Set the priorities between personal and professional life.

Above all, a proper sleep and healthy diet is very much important for a long run.

Art of Saying NO

 In the present corporate world we often face the challenge of being overloaded with tasks which may not add any value to us either personally or in our professional career. These are instances when we are in need to say a NO for the task assigned.

The first fear factor which gets into the thoughts of many freshers or people with experience of up to 5 years is that when we say NO, we may be sacked from employment or we may not be given a right recognition during the performance review for the actual job which one might have completed on time or before time. This is where the art of saying NO takes a real shape.

The following is a real time conversation between a manager and an employee

Scenario 1:

Manager: Do complete the presentation for a meeting scheduled tomorrow. The content for the meeting has been mailed to you. (Task assigned time: 6 PM)

Vijay: Ok sir. Noted. Will complete the same and share the same with you. (Without checking the mail)

Manager: I need the presentation tomorrow morning by 9AM.

Vijay: Ok Sir.

Manager: Ok bye. Meet you tomorrow.

Here the Vijay has taken the task without having any background of the task or the quantum of the content which he may have to read through to make a presentation. He is unaware if the presentation is to be prepared only from the content shared or should he accumulate some more information from any other colleague. There is no clarity from the Manager regarding the duration of the presentation, the presenter, the target audience etc.

The moment he checks the mail he understands the following by reading the mail

1. The content shared is regarding the achievements that were accomplished during the Financial Year which he is not assigned as a responsibility

2. He need to collect pictures for the achievements to presented as they will add more value to the presentation

3. Many achievements were missing and the data is to be populated from colleagues who have already left home and may not be having sufficient access to data to complete the presentation

4. Require confirmation for the Financial Numbers from the Accounts team, who usually take at least one working day to provide the same

5. Above all, he was not monitoring the organizational achievements

At this point he felt that he could not give a proper presentation as committed. He gets into a factor of panic that he will be roasted the next morning for the incomplete task by his Manager.

So how to say NO???

Manager: Do complete the presentation for a meeting scheduled tomorrow. The content for the meeting has been mailed to you. (Task assigned time: 6 PM)

Vijay: Sir, let me check the mail first and understand the content. Give me some time.

Manager: I need the presentation tomorrow morning by 9AM.

Vijay: Sir, I doubt I may not be able to give a commitment on the time without knowing the content and by giving a blind commitment if I do not deliver it will become a bigger issue. Give me sometime to check and revert back to you.

(Check the mail and understand the entire content)

Vijay: Sir, the content shared to me is not something which I am looking after and this should be better assigned the right person which in this case is not me.😊

Manager: So you mean to say you cant take up this task.😡

Vijay: Yes sir.

In this scenario if observe the word NO has not been used in the entire conversation and still it has been communicated. It is not a mandate that we should say the word NO in all the instances.

Scenario 2:

Manager: I need a complete report on the accident that has occurred in our highway today morning on my desk by EOD. Do visit the accident spot collect the data from the team.

Vijay: Ok sir. I will take a leave immediately

When he reaches the accident spot he finds that the spot has been cleared by the legal authorities for the traffic movement and he could find only a few traces of some damaged sign boards. He is not sure if the damage is due to the accident or was it damaged earlier. As he requested his team for any photographs of the accident, he finds that there were no sufficient photos to trace the cause of the accident. He was only provided with a copy of the First Information Report filed by the Legal Authorities.

By then, he gets a call from the same Manager asking for the update on the report. As he was briefing, the manager again stresses for the final report to be given to him by EOD without giving any heed to the ground situation. And also communicates that he should go to another location, which is about 200 km from the accident spot, to repeat a training for the workers as the CEO is visiting the site.

All the above are his KPI's which were fixed in the start of the year. But the dates for the training was not fixed.

Now Vijay is loaded up with two tasks and he his loaded up. He should collect all the data for the accident, prepare the presentation and travel to the new location for the training program the following day. By the time he collects the data the time is 5 PM and he starts with the presentation with the thoughts of how he is going to provide the training program. By which none of the two tasks shall be completed effectively.

So how to say NO???

Manager: I need a complete report on the accident that has occurred in our highway today morning on my desk by EOD. Do visit the accident spot collect the data from the team.

Vijay: Ok sir. I will take a leave immediately assess the situation and let you know.

(When the training task is assigned)

Vijay: Sir, I get to know the seriousness of the training as well. But we did provide them a training on the same subject a fortnight ago. The report shall be completed once the data collection is complete and I shall return back to my base

Here, one should also prioritize the work based on the situation and communicate it effectively.