It's time for Steph's Wise Words! So I joined the nine to five workforce recently and have to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to actually reach my downtown office on time.
Anyway, ever since my internship days I learnt working full time would require 'sacrifices' and the major sacrifice you have to make is TIME.
Anyway, ever since my internship days I learnt working full time would require 'sacrifices' and the major sacrifice you have to make is TIME.
The idea of OT (overtime) is not new to me. But the fact that it's the norm disgusts me. Like how can anyone think this is okay?
Without further ado, here is 6 reasons why overtime does more harm than good.
Without further ado, here is 6 reasons why overtime does more harm than good.
1) It eats up your rest time
I wake up at 6am everyday to avoid the morning rush hour traffic. To get the required 8 hours sleep a day, I have to be in bed by 10pm. So let's say you end work at 6pm, you battle the jam to get home about 7pm (if you're lucky la). You have dinner, shower and chill for 10 minutes and it's almost 10pm already! There's hardly any time to watch TV or write a blog posts.
So imagine if you have to leave work around 7 something or 8. By the time you get home, you just have to rush and hopefully can get to sleep by 10pm. Usually, it won't happen. Basically, OT is eating up for resting time. Falling sick and looking like a zombie is totally in order!
Part of my medication. But honestly, the cough medication taste super nice! Must take this one the next time.
2) It corrodes your family time
As I mentioned above, you don't have time to even get proper sleep. So what more laughing and watching TV with the family? I feel like I've abandoned a lot of family time because by the time I get back home, all I want to do is eat, shower and pray that I have enough sleep to last me the next day. There is absolutely no time to mess around with my cousin or sister! I'm really upset that the main mode of communication with my family is now through Whatsapp. SO PATHETIC.
How my mom checks whether am I feeling better or not.
Pretty sad how it's done through Whatsapp and not in person.
The worst part is I'm working now so I can build my own family in the future but excuse me.. OT is making it feel like if I get home, I'll be too tired for my future children. It's like ya I'm buying them milk but they're gonna call the maid "mama" simply because from Monday to Friday, I will be spending very little quality time with them. It's like that's what I'm working so I can raise my kids but my kids aren't behaving well cause I need to work. Catch 22 anyone?
3) It prevents employees from giving 100%
I don't know why employers fail to see this.. I OT, I will come in my work feeling exhausted and I will do a half ass job because all I want is the day to be over! Imagine starting work at 845am and you can go home after 7pm. I feel demotivated enough as it is right? How to you expect me to come in work and say YEAH I TOTALLY WANT TO DO A GREAT JOB! But your job is long and draggish. All you want to so is get it over with and go home. That's it. If your employees hate their job then obviously they won't do a good job. I know what most people will say.. Suck it up. But if you can't do a good job, then why bother doing the job in the first place? I believe that if you are going to do something, then you should do everything you can and do it right.
4) OT is not equal to performance
I know many company's culture thinks that OT = hard work. If you don't stay back after working hours, you're insincere and not a hard worker. I disagree.. Not working OT means that I have other things to attend to after my working hours. It could be my family or night school but usually, it's out of my control! Isn't 9am to 6pm long enough? It's already more than 1/3 of my day! And this excludes commuting time to and from work some more!
5) OT is sucking your life away
Imagine.. A friend is planning a party and you can't leave because you have to OT! Or you wanna go pak toh with le boyfriend BUT NO. YOU OT! You wanna join premiere screening BUT NO. YOU OT!
It is stopping you from EVERYTHING! No gym, no fun, no dates, no dinner dates! You simply have to give all your time to work! Love your company that much huh? It's unreasonable how we cannot even control what's gonna happen after working hours! What sense does it make? My life belongs to the company? NO! EVERYONE DESERVES TO PLAN A THING OR TWO WITHOUT BEING OBSTRUCTED BY WORK! It's insane how life is completely out of my control! Be it sleep, eat or shit, OT cannot keep interfering with my after hours! Where did my life go?
6) The money ain't yours
Yea OT.... But mind you, many companies DO NOT pay for OT!
And if your department performs well, unless you are a shareholder, the money isn't yours.
Think.. they can pay you a large sum of bonus! So how much are the big shots getting? Way beyond your bonus! They can pay you cause they have more in their pockets. So while they're wasting daylight in Bahamas, there you are sitting there doing OT and wondering what meals you could be having if you weren't sitting here.
Bottom line is, OT is really good for nothing. It's just a very Asian mentality that working late equals good employee! I really disagree. If I do get somewhere someday, all my employees will go back on time.
Work is endless but your time is limited. I wanna see my child grow up. I wanna spend time with my parents. I wanna talk to my sisters. I want to feel like a human. I want my time for myself not for the company. Seriously, this isn't a healthy norm!
Not sure do I hope my boss will see this somehow but I really do hope someone can see what harm can OT bring instead of focusing on how it 'looks' good.
K before I can change the world I gotta go sleep so I can OT again! Blekkk.
Bye bye~
