8 Hours

I think for a lot of people around the world there is something that strikes when they hear 8 hours. It is a third of your time per day and a significant part of your life.  So did you guess what I am referring to here? That is the amount of time most of us work and we spend an equal amount of time sleeping leaving us with 8 hours for the rest.

So if you are someone who works for more than 8 hours how do you balance the rest? Do you get paid? Are you recognized for these efforts? Is the company expecting you to do so?

To put it differently are you a person who do not want to spend beyond 8 hours at any cost? Do you think companies should not force you too? That is the time organizations ask from us. That is the time different people use in different ways. Is this the time that separates the successful vs. the rest?

Ok! I will stop here with questions.

When I started the article I said "for a lot of people" for a reason. Because a large part of the global workforce work for a large portion of the 24 hour day to earn a decent meal or to make a meaningful impact to their family and society.

I grew up in a family, which has a business background for generations. I am the first to take up a different course i.e., not entering the family business. I saw first hand my Dad toiling for 18-20 hours a day managing the business. All he used to think is how can he make things better so that the business is successful today and will continue to do so that it not only makes our family have a better life but all those people who used to work for the business.

So when I entered the workforce working for someone else my mindset always used be that the company I am working for is my own as my success is dependent upon the success of the company. With that mindset the 8 hours never played into my mind.

Things started changing a little once I got married and started a family. I organically started devoting little more time to my family but I never got push back from my company. So I assumed that my company/leadership understands and had a better appreciation for them.

It was always not that way after I left that company. I saw different employers having different expectations and even my peers having varying mindsets on what it means to work for 8 hours and beyond.

So coming back to my question is the employer's expectation that their employees work beyond 8 hours reasonable? Is the employee’s expectation that anytime beyond the 8 hours is his personal time? How do you balance this situation? Is there a magic wand that can make things work for both?

For this I tried to go back to find answers on how employees whom my Dad used to manage at his business. And the reason I tried that is because he was very successful for a very long time before things started going south. I would like to highlight a few here, which might give us some leads...

1. Fiduciary duty includes both legal and ethical responsibilities. Are we giving more importance to only to the first half and not give enough resources to take care of the later?

2. Does loyalty means the same as before. Do employees need to be loyal and stay with the company in its ups and downs and if so will the company reciprocate?

3. Role of leaders: Every industry, company, region, society needs a different kind of leader.  You cannot define a leader nor can you go by pure traits. According to the MIT Leadership center "We all hunger to know what leadership is, yet the concept remains amorphous".

So you would expect that I have an answer now... I don't in fact. Because no one can. We are all different as humans with different expectations in our lives.  What works for me may not work for others and I don’t think forcing them to do anything otherwise will have the same result. All I can say is companies and leaders should do more to improve work culture and employee’s open enough and respond to calls from their leadership when in need.