More Work ≠ Better Work

There is a debate raging in this country over work. On the one hand, we have industry icons urging young Indians to work 70 hours a week. On the other, the death of an overworked 26-year-old EY employee has caused national outrage. Both sides have their votaries.The ‘work more’ brigade believes being young is about building your career and contributing to the nation. Work-life balance, according to them, is for the weak. Who needs sleep or health when you can add to the company’s bottom line? Working hard, they argue, is just another way to outwork the competition. And life is all about beating the competition.Work culture the issue | The EY employee who died had only recently cleared the notoriously competitive CA exam. She was then thrust into a demanding new job. According to her parents, she worked late into the night and came home only to receive more work. Being a CA, her job likely involved poring over reams of documents and preparing reports. It must have been hard.It’s not just accountants. In the horrible RG Kar case, young doctors were said to be working sleepless 36-hour shifts. IT managers, investment bankers, consultants, salespeople, media professionals — these are all professionals for whom work never ends. But that’s not how it works everywhere.I remember an incident from my investment banking years long ago. I had gone to Perth, Australia, to conduct credit due diligence on a mining company. I wanted to set up a meeting with the finance manager. He said his last meeting slot was at 3.30pm because he left for home at 4.30pm, come what may. He never took work home either. And yes, the mining company he worked for did just fine.But in my banking job in Hong Kong, we worked until 10pm several days a week. That was the culture in Hong Kong. This same work-long-and-hard culture is prevalent in India as well. Junior employees don’t want to leave before their seniors do. Seniors don’t leave until their superior does. Thus, everyone stays back. Remote work technology has made things worse. Tools meant to make life easier are now being used to ensure you are always online and instantly responsive.Grind confused with productivity | Irony is, Indian companies aren’t more productive than global counterparts. True wealth creation comes from vision and innovation. This requires creativity and freedom. It also requires enough free time for people to think of new ideas. If it were only about the daily grind, nothing great would ever be achieved.One of the biggest time wasters in Indian companies are meetings. Be honest and answer this: Has any company meeting ever helped achieve anything? Couldn’t a message on the group have done just as well? But no, meetings are a must in corporate settings.Indian companies actively dislike innovation. The idea of junior employees making valuable contributions makes us insecure. Hence, there is no effort to keep junior employees in a happy and creative state. Such employees are just commodified resources, lemons to be squeezed. If you can pay junior employees half of what they deserve and make them do the work of two, that for an Indian manager is a major success. The competitive advantage of Indian companies, particularly in the service sector, is almost always cheap labour, another term for employee exploitation.What’s the way out? | In this pressure-cooker environment, what is a junior employee supposed to do? Should you rebel? No, you’ll lose your job. Should you quit? Only if your daddy is rich. Should you suck up to seniors and work harder? No, because you don’t want your life force drained out of you. So, think of ways to deal with the situation.First, accept that being junior often means you have to work hard. However, you could be working too hard if you’re not getting enough sleep, are constantly fatigued, in poor mental health, or don’t have any fun in your life. If any of this is happening, you must talk to your senior.That could be extremely difficult. You could be labelled a “snowflake” for telling your manager you need decent sleep. Still, have that talk. Do not compromise on sleep. Lose sleep, and eventually, you could lose everything. Work hard, but make time for yourself, your family, your friends. Nobody ever discusses PowerPoint presentations on their deathbed.And if it doesn’t work? | What if the manager doesn’t listen? Then you use my patented method, which I employed for years. Implement the LBDN policy. That’s “Look busy, do nothing”.So, once a project ends, don’t declare it’s finished. That way, they won’t dump fresh work on you too quickly. Meanwhile, open an old client report or spreadsheet to look busy in office. During that time, meditate, watch prank videos, sign up on dating websites, or chat with friends. The moment the boss walks by, type away furiously on the spreadsheet. The boss will leave you alone.Indian managers are often clueless, with zero compassion or people management skills. They think sharing motivational LinkedIn posts makes them good managers, even as they ignore their team’s motivation and exhaustion. Reason with them. If they don’t listen, do your own thing and exploit your job with zero guilt — just the way you are being exploited.