Working overtime

Overworking in offices has been undergoing a cyclical change. In the old days when there was no trade union pressure people had to overwork whether they liked it or not.

Sometimes we read about children being made to work 18 hours a day. Then a stage came when due to very strong pressure from trade unions, work was limited to definite hours and any work over and above the limited hours had to be paid at a higher rate.

Some people managed to waste their time during the actual working hours and then did the work during the overtime period. Strangely enough, workers did their work with much greater sincerity than the work done in the normal working hours!

Some people are habitually wedded to the idea of staying and working beyond office hours whether or not there is extra payment. We had an officer who would always ask us to keep the file on his table whenever we had some difficulty dealing with it
. As a result we failed to learn many things and he overburdened himself and went home late.

Then came the theoreticians who said that sitting late and working beyond office hours was a clear sign of inefficiency. They said that the work is organised in such a way that it should be completed within the regular office hours. Those who were doing extra work in the evenings felt very miserable on hearing such O & M theory.

Someone has made a study of what drives people to work before or beyond office hours. There are some people who are very sincere and who would not like to keep work pending. A few others are either afraid of their nagging wives at home.  Some persons have a hidden agenda. They want to escape their creditors. Of course on salary day they will manage to disappear long before the closing time.

There is a funny story about a man who was working in a publisher’s office and who was in the habit of sitting late. Once a friend asked him why he sat late and worked so much.
The man said that working more gave him more knowledge and helped him to build his personality. The friend asked, ‘OK, Tell me what you know about Abraham Lincoln?’

Our man gave a full account of Lincoln’s life and achievements including abolition of slavery.  Next the friend asked, ‘What do you know about Edison?’ Our man narrated a long list of Edison’s inventions like the electric bulb, telephone and so on.  Now the friend asked, ‘Tell me what do you know about Gunduram?’ Our man said, ‘Gunduram? Who’s that?  I don’t think I know him from Adam.’

Then the friend said, ‘Well go home early tomorrow evening and find out what Gunduram and your wife are up to.’