Long hours not necessarily productive
VRKPublished: Jul 20, 2007 9:11 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
The subject of working long hours and the related productivity expectations have been bandied about for some time now. Now there is the talk about reducing national/state public holidays to increase productivity.
Sometime we get confused on the various steps that we can undertake to achieve our goals whether it is corporate, government or as an individual. Let me put my stall out at the beginning itself - I do not believe working long hours can be related to increasing productivity or whether it is a good thing as a whole anyway.
It is my firm belief that working long hours may overcome shortages of work time in the short term but eventually the stress will catch up with you. How many of us know of those who boast of working till 2 or 3am the next morning only to turn up at work the following day after lunch at noon?
What's the point of that? There is another example of someone who actually slept in the office under the table due to so call 'urgent work' and then disappeared for few days due to exhaustion. Again, what's the point in that?
Productivity is a function of output and time so sometimes increasing the number of hours worked may just reduce productivity if average output falls. Maybe this explains why Germany, which has one of the highest productivity figures, is also where people work the shortest hours.
We waste a lot of time on pleasing internal bosses and on presentations. How many of us stay up late amending and redoing presentations for internal consumption when all the effort should be focused on external clients where the revenue is coming from.
There should be no need to have a nice Powerpoint slideshow to show the group CEO or MD what the thinking is. It is just sufficient to outline and discuss it so time is not wasted on unproductive or non-revenue generating matters.
Many a time, middle or lower-management staff just wait around for the head honcho to turn up for review or meeting and this is wasted time. I have heard so many horror stories where staff are asked to turn up on a Saturday at 8am for a breakfast meeting with the MD who in turn turns up at 9.30am wasting everyone's time.
The golden rule of management is to not waste too much time on internal meetings and presentations when the clients and revenue are all external. Sometime inexperience and egos play a role in this.
No matter how long the hours we work, they are not going to be productive or efficient if we get the basics wrong. We must learn to work smart and efficient. Long hours sometimes disguise incompetence, mediocrity and inefficiency.
Sometime we get confused on the various steps that we can undertake to achieve our goals whether it is corporate, government or as an individual. Let me put my stall out at the beginning itself - I do not believe working long hours can be related to increasing productivity or whether it is a good thing as a whole anyway.
It is my firm belief that working long hours may overcome shortages of work time in the short term but eventually the stress will catch up with you. How many of us know of those who boast of working till 2 or 3am the next morning only to turn up at work the following day after lunch at noon?
What's the point of that? There is another example of someone who actually slept in the office under the table due to so call 'urgent work' and then disappeared for few days due to exhaustion. Again, what's the point in that?
Productivity is a function of output and time so sometimes increasing the number of hours worked may just reduce productivity if average output falls. Maybe this explains why Germany, which has one of the highest productivity figures, is also where people work the shortest hours.
We waste a lot of time on pleasing internal bosses and on presentations. How many of us stay up late amending and redoing presentations for internal consumption when all the effort should be focused on external clients where the revenue is coming from.
There should be no need to have a nice Powerpoint slideshow to show the group CEO or MD what the thinking is. It is just sufficient to outline and discuss it so time is not wasted on unproductive or non-revenue generating matters.
Many a time, middle or lower-management staff just wait around for the head honcho to turn up for review or meeting and this is wasted time. I have heard so many horror stories where staff are asked to turn up on a Saturday at 8am for a breakfast meeting with the MD who in turn turns up at 9.30am wasting everyone's time.
The golden rule of management is to not waste too much time on internal meetings and presentations when the clients and revenue are all external. Sometime inexperience and egos play a role in this.
No matter how long the hours we work, they are not going to be productive or efficient if we get the basics wrong. We must learn to work smart and efficient. Long hours sometimes disguise incompetence, mediocrity and inefficiency.
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