Some Like It Short (and Sweet): Do You Need To Work Long Hours for Productivity?

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“If you can fill the unforgiving minute

with sixty seconds’ worth of distance run—

   yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it…”

 

                                                                           – Rudyard Kipling, “If”

In the early 2000s, the perception of whether you were a good employee was often pegged to the number of hours you put into work. If your day’s schedule wasn’t full, or you didn’t come home exhausted, you were seen as unambitious or indolent. I recall lawyers, consultants, ad-men and bankers would all compete on which profession required you to put more ‘nights out’ in the office like it was a badge of honour. 

 

Then along came Timothy Ferris with ‘The Four Hour Work Week, encouraging people to work smarter versus longer hours. His approach is resonant with today’s young professionals who seek meaning outside of work and celebrate ‘work-life balance.’ This is a generation of workers with greater awareness of their rights and boundaries and who are more explicit about their personal needs and constraints. Being too busy or overwhelmed is seen as a warning sign that a mental health crisis is brewing or that one is stuck in a very toxic job.

 

Yet, for all the push for flexibility and balance, the latest brouhaha sparked by the L&T chairman’s remarks on making workers work on Sundays is similar to Narayan Murthy’s proud declaration that he used to work “14.5 hours a day for 6.5 days a week.” Such posturing shows that “quantity is equal to/ important as quality of work’ is still a deeply internalised notion for many senior decision-makers leading to a clear generational divide in work ethic. 

 

As a young professional, how can this difference-  in the understanding of value – be bridged? How can you establish credibility and signal your effectiveness without burning the midnight oil?

 

Here are some strategies to consider.

 

Work Smart:

Prioritise Prioritising: Steven Covey says that figuring out what is important and starting with the end in mind is critical to working efficiently. Make a list of all that you need to do and assess each task for its urgency and importance. Then, treating your time as ‘currency’, first allocate it to what is most critical. Another way to look at this is to use the principle of ‘address the big rocks first’.

 

A helpful habit is to plan your calendar – including some buffer time for ‘unexpected tasks’ and then stick to it religiously. Alternate between creative and monotonous work to minimize boredom and the need for breaks.

 

Ethical use of AI and other time-saving technologies: From project management software, and automated scheduling applications, to AI applications that can be customised to support specific and daily mundane tasks, exposing staff to tools and training to lighten their workload can go a long way in boosting their productivity. ‘Calendly’ for automated appointment scheduling, ‘Toggl’ to track and manage time-use for different projects, and ‘Asana’ for project management across and within teams, are a few among a fast-growing list of time-saving applications.  AI is transforming workplace efficiency by turning mundane tasks into opportunities for focus and creativity. Whether it’s summarizing meetings, triaging emails, or surfacing key insights from complex data, AI enables employees to work smarter. Vaidehi C, a seasoned tech professional at a leading bank in Bengaluru says “Working moms like me can effectively juggle a busy schedule, take initiative at work, while also being more present at home thanks to these new tools.”


Acknowledge the Needs of Others:

 

Create a predictable cadence to your work schedule: Asking for flexibility to work from home/ specific hours to suit your lifestyle needs is fine. But be consistent. Set a regular work schedule (even if it involves breaks) – and build timelines when you need input or insights from colleagues. Enabling a collaborative and flexible work environment often requires modelling the behaviour. You can expect flexibility when you are flexible to others as well.  

 

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate: Probably the biggest key to managing work-life balance is communication. To communicate clearly when people can expect to hear back from you. Keep to your timelines – negotiate what you need upfront, and always ask for help if you are overwhelmed or struggling to meet a deadline. Managing communications and creating a reliable channel of communication help build rapport, trust and reliability in the long run. 

 

Live Habits that Power Work Productivity: To make any attempt at striking a balance at work effective, your habits outside of work will also need to be examined. Aim to be able to bring your A-game to work, for whatever time you spend there. Be focused, present and fully engaged. Exercise, healthy diets, and sufficient sleep are the basic blocks for being able to be at your best. The HBR article ‘Making of a Corporate Athlete’ talks about how it’s important to keep yourself intellectually, emotionally, physically and spiritually healthy to bring your best to work. Your goal should be to invest in your health outside so you get more done in the time you do dedicate to work.


Bring Your Best Self:

Breaks are your best friend: Build ‘sips of recharge into your day – e.g. by using Pomodoro and other techniques to create mini-breaks throughout your work day. The best runners are those who take regular and timed breaks. Vacations are about helping you be rested, recharged and re-energized so you can renew your focus at work. 

 

Live A Healthy Life Not Just a Work Life: Charity begins at home, so goes the old adage and it is true for holistic health – if your habits and life outside of work are not healthy, then any attempts at striking a balance will be lopsided. Staying healthy, managing mental health, and treating your body and mind like a tool to be sharpened for work are all ways to be healthy.

 

So beyond the social media-fueled duel between the so-called “woke” and the “traditional” perception of what is an appropriate amount of time to spend at work, we need a more relevant conversation around how to be most effective at the workplace. To find ways to work smarter that are also time-saving. Perhaps Kipling would do better to consider – how a minute can be forgiving with the minute, and 30 seconds of distance run can be plenty after all!