Hi Sunith, Both of us know each others problems we faced when we started out. Our first years were demanding, and yes, you could say that we were exploited, but we allowed that so that we could prove our worth and rise up fast. I remember I walked in to office once on a Friday afternoon, and walked out on Sunday morning, taking short naps in the conference room. In no time we earned the respect of our higher ups.
Now, I may be having it going easy for me, because I do not do that anymore, but I still get a performance award every other quarter and 2 decent appraisals so far, and a hint of getting a managerial post 2 years down the line, if I continue here. To run the risk of sounding trite; I don't work THAT hard, I work smart, and sincerely! After I realised that I had high BP during a routine check up, caused due to longer working hours and less sleep, I told my boss outright, that I am not going to compromise my health. I told you that you were stupid to allow your boss to compromise your safety during your tower climbing expeditions, but then again, I ain't the adventurous type like you! In the last 2 years, I've worked in 3 projects under 4 bosses. Two of them were "exploitative", one of which I willingly allowed myself to be exploited by, as she was an amazing Boss, simply because she had the art of getting all her subordinates to be willingly exploited through her motivational speeches! Looking back, I realised I had no life besides work then. Now I refuse to do the same and I openly divulge my 12 hr Work-Play policy to my boss. As and when required, I will put in the extra hours, and that happens during quarter ends, when I work 22 hrs straight even now. As for the IT industry, although I am not in the IT division of my company, it cannot get more IT than my company and location! Now I see hyped up reports on the print media that stress is on the rise which leads me to think that everyone is working longer hours and sleeping less. But to think about it, our company buses arrive at 9 and leave at 6, pretty much fully packed. So statistically (by visual observation of course), most employees in my very IT company work a 9 to 6, and only an isolated few take the 8, 10, 11 and 12 pm cabs. Those who do work late hours allow themselves to be exploited (which depends on the type of boss one has) or are workaholics simply because they have no life besides work! In summary, you don't have to necessarily work long hours to move up! Even when I reach a managerial position, I intend to follow the same 12hr Work-Play policy (Work inclusive of travel to and fro from home to office). And large companies, with HR policies in place, discourage long working hours, yet this still happens because of certain types of bosses or employees. Cheers, Aristo. PS. My BP is still slightly high because I still don't get enough sleep because of evening college! On 11/12/06, Sunith Velho <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Dear Aristo, > > What Selma says about work hours in the IT industry in India is partly > true(admit it!). The part about HR practices is I agree with you, wholly > inaccurate. > > I can tell you from personal experience that the Telecom industry in India > is the absolute worst when it comes to work schedules, especially because > most of the work happens only after midnight and you are expected to be in > the office at nine in the morning. > > I have always looked at this as a great advantage that young professionals > today have. In two years, I was able to have the type of experience and > responsibilities (and promotions!) only mid-level managers would have had > previously. _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
