The Always “ON” Mode of the Indian Worker

“There’s this exciting music festival this weekend, care to join?”, I asked my 27 year old friend, Kashi, who works at a local law firm. She declined stating “I really want to however, I’m pulling 14-15 hours at work most days so where is the time for leisure, new experiences, and general happiness?” Does this scenario sound familiar? Often, your friends ask you out for a coffee or a movie and even on a weekend you almost instantly wish they hadn’t! You haven’t completely shut-off from work and need some more time to recover mentally and physically. Especially, before diving straight back into the city’s traffic that drains you almost instantaneously. In fact, a part of the reluctance to go out also stems from a feeling of guilt. This guilt is brought about by the “fact” that you are in an important position in the organization. This means that you need to always be “ON”. Translating into the thought “I might as well take it easy and stay in, in case I’m needed at work”, says your mind, conditioned to believe that work always comes first. This incessant need to always be “ON” is a curse all city folk are battling. Most corporates, including start-ups today aim at attracting and retaining talent by offering certain perks. These range from ESOPS, hefty salaries, joining bonuses, cab rides, free food, and other such benefits. Employees hence rationalise their hectic work schedules, they feel obligated to their company, leading to a “Kashi-esque” moment of dejection and a lost sense of purpose; am I really in charge of my life or is my job controlling me? The “Kashi-esque” feeling is derived from the paradoxical conundrum that one finds themselves in, when they realise that their jobs define who they are socially. The supposedly clear line between “ON” and “OFF” modes is suddenly blurred. Welcome to the age of work-life imbalance, where work and life have no clear boundaries. The negative effects of being in an “ON” state are many. Burnout, high turnover and the death spiral of working longer hours but getting less done are just a few. Off-hour interruptions bleed into time at the office, too. This most commonly causes bad morale, employees either resent each other or the management. Corporates have gradually realised that a good work-life balance and work productivity have a strong correlation. They are now increasingly taking steps to remedy the situation by introducing various wellness initiatives as part of their Employee Assistance Programs (EAP). Such programs typically include counselling for personal and professional issues, challenges in team management, support for any personal crisis and workshops on wellness, diversity, leadership and ethics. Some EAP programs also involve a larger spectrum of services such as legal/ financial assistance, exercise and dietary consultations, insurance handling etc. But do these policies really help? A recent study suggested the top four contributors to poor work-life balance are:

1. Bad Bosses
2. Incompetent Colleagues
3. Long Work Hours
4. Long Work Commutes

While internal EAP policies can lend a certain degree of relief to employees in the first three categories, the work commute however, is a problem employees still have to deal with themselves. Today, Indians work around 3,120 hours on an average every year, which includes 3.5 hours average work commute per day. Obviously leaving us with little time and energy to manage work, family and our personal life effectively. Many companies are putting together awareness drives to educate employees about the benefits of staying closer to work. “Walk to work” and “Stay closer to work” are initiatives that NoBroker.com has also attempted to drive within corporates through its niche tech product - The Life Score, which estimates how much time, money and energy an individual can save by moving to a home closer to work. But it appears, employees today, especially millennials with their restless and ambitious ways,,would rather bide time to “trade-up” to the next big gig than shift homes. This is where corporates can exercise more control on employee retention by implementing strong policies around relocation assistance and lifestyle counselling to aid employees in leading fuller and more content lives. With all that being said, the reality is that work comes first. A friend working at a major IT company said, “I work for one of the better companies and they do make attempts at improving my quality of life. However, at the end of the day, what matters is business.” And that goes for every industry, making the balance of work and life a complicated endeavour in India. P.S. Want to know your life score? Check it out here: https://www.nobroker.in/life-score