Working Late Hours: Passion for the job or Sheer Inefficiency?

I once heard a unit manager accusing one of his team members of not being “committed” to the job. His grievance was that “some of the staff don’t stay a minute longer that the official closing time”. My next question was “stay longer to do what?”

If they come to work in time, finishes their job on or before deadline and their quality of work is up to or above standard, why should they be expected to spend a second longer beyond the official working hours and incur unreasonable overtime cost to the business?

If it were your personal business I asked, “Will you be willing to pay your team extra to simply “hang around” the office because you might need them later in the day to complete your task?”

In my many interactions with mid-level to senior-level managers, I have come to realize that most managers have their different definition of what “passion for the job” means.

Some managers measure their employee passion by how much extra hours or days their team are willing to put into their job. I do not disagree with the notion that passion requires sacrifice, what I fail to agree with is the false notion that when people work late it means they are passionate or working harder than their colleague who work within the stipulated work hours.

Working late is often a sign of inefficiency. This inefficiency could be a system (corporate) issue or people (manager) issue.

Some managers are unable to drive their team to be efficient because, they have not been able to set a good example for their team to aspire to.

When an employee fails to prioritize his work or mismanages his time, the resultant effect is that you have to stay back or come over on weekend/holidays to complete your task.

My dad told me a story about what going to school was like during his days. If your teacher ask you a question in class and you fail to answer correctly the following will likely happen to you;

• You will not be allowed to go out and play with your peers during the lunch hour break.
• And if you still can’t solve the task, you will be made to stay back after school hours.
• If after like an hour or so, you still can’t figure out that answer; the teacher won’t wait forever. Hence you will end up spending the evening in your teacher’s house doing chores as your punishment for not being as intelligent as your peers.

Unfortunately, a lot of employees are like that, except that Management does not impose an extra hour-with-no-extra pay threat on you, but because the consequence of not delivering on your task might cost you your job. Most employees simply take it upon themselves to stay back and catch-up on outstanding task while the efficient ones are already at home with their families or doing some other personally rewarding activities.

I don’t admire a man who spends all his time at work. I admire the man who spend as little time as possible and is able to get impressive results that meets the overall company goal.

I have often heard of managers that won’t let any member of their team leave after work hours, because “you can’t leave the office when your boss is still around”.

Why should your team members not have a balanced work-life simply because you can’t manage your time and delegate task as at when due?

How doe extended hour and the resultant overtime cost add to the profitability of the business?

If you walk into a restaurant to have a “good” meal, will you be willing to pay more simply because the Chef took longer time preparing a meal you could get elsewhere in a shorter time?

Beyond some popular valid reasons for extended work hour, most reasons are due to the following;

• Poor time management
• Lack of delegation
• Poor knowledge of the job and skill required to deliver

Another silent, yet influential reason is if the organizational reward system is not seen to be objective, most employees will resort to cheap and fraudulent ways of attracting management attention to their “hard work” as a way of being appraised for performance.

Work Smart, Not Hard!

I once heard a unit manager accusing one of his team members of not being “committed” to the job. His grievance was that “some of the staff don’t stay a minute longer that the official closing time”. My next question was “stay longer to do what?”

If they come to work in time, finishes their job on or before deadline and their quality of work is up to or above standard, why should they be expected to spend a second longer beyond the official working hours and incur unreasonable overtime cost to the business?

If it were your personal business I asked, “Will you be willing to pay your team extra to simply “hang around” the office because you might need them later in the day to complete your task?”

In my many interactions with mid-level to senior-level managers, I have come to realize that most managers have their different definition of what “passion for the job” means.

Some managers measure their employee passion by how much extra hours or days their team are willing to put into their job. I do not disagree with the notion that passion requires sacrifice, what I fail to agree with is the false notion that when people work late it means they are passionate or working harder than their colleague who work within the stipulated work hours.

Working late is often a sign of inefficiency. This inefficiency could be a system (corporate) issue or people (manager) issue.

Some managers are unable to drive their team to be efficient because, they have not been able to set a good example for their team to aspire to.

When an employee fails to prioritize his work or mismanages his time, the resultant effect is that you have to stay back or come over on weekend/holidays to complete your task.

My dad told me a story about what going to school was like during his days. If your teacher ask you a question in class and you fail to answer correctly the following will likely happen to you;

·         You will not be allowed to go out and play with your peers during the lunch hour break.

·         And if you still can’t solve the task, you will be made to stay back after school hours.

·         If after like an hour or so, you still can’t figure out that answer; the teacher won’t wait forever. Hence you will end up spending the evening in your teacher’s house doing chores as your punishment for not being as intelligent as your peers.

Unfortunately, a lot of employees are like that, except that Management does not impose an extra hour-with-no-extra pay threat on you, but because the consequence of not delivering on your task might cost you your job. Most employees simply take it upon themselves to stay back and catch-up on outstanding task while the efficient ones are already at home with their families or doing some other personally rewarding activities.

I don’t admire a man who spends all his time at work. I admire the man who spend as little time as possible and is able to get impressive results that meets the overall company goal.

I have often heard of managers that won’t let any member of their team leave after work hours, because “you can’t leave the office when your boss is still around”.

Why should your team members not have a balanced work-life simply because you can’t manage your time and delegate task as at when due?

How doe extended hour and the resultant overtime cost add to the profitability of the business?

If you walk into a restaurant to have a “good” meal, will you be willing to pay more simply because the Chef took longer time preparing a meal you could get elsewhere in a shorter time?

Beyond some popular valid reasons for extended work hour, most reasons are due to the following;

·         Poor time management

·         Lack of delegation

·         Poor knowledge of the job and skill required to deliver

Another silent, yet influential reason is if the organizational reward system is not seen to be objective, most employees will resort to cheap and fraudulent ways of attracting management attention to their “hard work” as a way of being appraised for performance.

Work Smart, Not Hard!