Work is Worship!

I go back in time when “work” was considered to be a serious form of worship.  Serious workaholics strongly believed in the idiom, “Work is Worship” and toiled day in and day out. Most of these workaholics were “seen” to be good leaders and successful people.  The names of these people were often quoted, as shining examples to emulate and to motivate the younger generation to work harder.  For anybody who was seen taking a break or just relaxing in-between office work, their acts were considered blasphemous. Back in the eighties, during the early stages of my banking career, I had a nagging suspicion that the Bank had assigned some senior executives solely to keep a close watch on the young employees who had been recruited in hordes in all nationalized banks post the bank nationalization phase in the late sixties and early seventies in India.  Recruitment took place in Banks in thousands, in the late seventies and early eighties, very much like the mass recruitment we see in Software and Services Companies these days.  I suspect, some of the senior executives in Banks were ordained by Bank management to go around their Head Office / Main office building in the Bank just to catch the youngsters in the act of chatting among themselves standing near the staircases or loitering here and there or just “whiling away” their precious “work” time in the office canteens. I remember being remonstrated a few times by senior executives to go back to respective work stations and complete the “work” instead of wasting time.  Working late was considered the norm with employees putting in extra hours of “work” beyond their stipulated working hours.  Sitting late would fetch the employees the required additional marks in their annual appraisals which was considered a “must” for promotions!

The youngsters in Banks who had been freshly recruited from various colleges had carried over their baggage in forming groups of like-minded individuals for sharing experiences and discussing their work-life occurrences standing near the staircases.  The atmosphere in the Head Office of the Bank was buzzing with activity.  Young people were seen milling all around the Head Office or their Main Offices with enthusiasm.  There was so much energy and freshness around the Bank environment, which is in sharp contrast to what we see in the nationalized Banks today.  Pardon me, while I say that most of the nationalized Bank employees today appear all too tired, dull and old, ready to pack up their bags at the drop of a hat, once and for all, either to opt for voluntary retirement or wait for attaining superannuation.   Since there was the mass recruitment of employees in the early eighties, now there appears to be the mass exit of employees occurring in nationalized Banks these days.

Coming back to the topic at hand, we hear the refrain “work life balance” being bandied about constantly these days; used synonymous with the IT and other services’ employees who work around the clock, 24/7, catering to their “clients” from around the world.  These days the term of yore, “work is worship” seem to be almost absent.  It is now all about teamwork and making greater use of technology.  Great ideas and inspiration seem to be the buzzword.  People have realized the darker side of slogging 24/7; with the pervasive lifestyle, related health issues cropping up; employees not having quality time for families; and many other negative factors in the society catching up, to show up, the ill effects of working too much at the cost of their personal life.  Personal life gets disrupted with too much focus on “work” and nothing else, in between.

“All work and no play make Jack a dull boy”, seems to be the mantra these days; in the process, companies are urging their employees to have a perfect work-life balance.  The big multinational companies, software, services and otherwise, have all provided for various facilities within their Headquarters each looking more and more like college campuses rather than companies where people need to “work” for generating profits for these companies.  It appears that Google HQ has Group cooking classes or coffee tasting arranged for its employees; bikes are provided to employees to move around the campus; Cafes galore within the campuses; group fitness classes with A class Gym facilities and much more are provided to their employees.  Facebook HQ, on the other hand, have many other wonderful facilities for its employees; company store–filled with FB apparel and items; it seems they even have foxes on campus, real ones, with specially designated fox-habitat area, and the campus certified for wild-life; video arcade for employees to hang out; many fast food restaurants filled with Burgers, pizzas, burritos, sushi, sweet shops, coffee shops, vending machines filled with snacks and beverages. All free. An interior swing for employees to “chill” in the playground near to the mini-kitchen.  Lots of electric cars in the parking lot.  Apple, it appears have designed their new HQ in a unique circular style reminiscent of their iPod, iPhone and iPad.  Their new campus will include a cafe for 3,000 sitting people; be surrounded by extensive landscaping, and offer parking both underground and a parking structure.  Media reports widely describe the new structure as "spaceship".  Other facilities include a 1,000-seat auditorium, 300,000 square feet of R&D facilities, a fitness center; an orchard, and a dedicated generating plant as the primary source of electricity (powered by natural gas and other more environmentally sound means); with a gorgeous courtyard in the middle, and a lot more.  What else, next?  Your imagination is as good as mine!  With all these wonderful facilities’ available, where do the employees find time to complete their required “work” hours, in between all the recreation and fun?

How times are A-changing.  The workers of the world, rejoice!  Sitting late in Offices is now considered passé.  Life seems to have come full circle for the workers of the world, who were once viewed with suspicion and had to be reined in to be more productive with catchy phrases such as “Work is Worship” as a means of motivation.  Retaining employees was unheard of, in our earlier days; there were no retention policies to retain talented youngsters by providing facilities, including employee stock options.  Workers were considered mere “automatons” or “robots” working at the pleasure of the employers; the loyal “employees” of yesteryear were threatened with more stringent working hours and bad reviews if they did not “fall in line” with the management philosophy of work, work and more work.  What a “royal fall” for the employer managements, it has been!  Who has had the last laugh, now, the “workers” or the “employer managements”, your guess is as good as mine!

The Irony of Life

“The irony of human condition is that we are so focused on reaching some point in our journey, some happiness, or some goal, that we seem to forget that the journey itself is where life happens!"   

                                                                                                                     "Author unknown”

Attending job interviews is a challenging prospect for most people; however, for Rahul, job interviews had been a smooth sailing affair, so far, as he had performed fairly well in many of the interviews, he had faced in his lifetime.  However, every time Rahul attended a job interview, he had to go through lot of background preparation and new learning or unlearning processes, based on his previous experiences, in anticipation of the interview.  He had to understand the organization, the role, the background of the company, their financials and many more such important information gleaned from internet sources or from some ex-colleagues who had worked in that company.  The purpose of a job interview was deploying right people into the right job.  Only if the interviewers had this in mind during the selection process, many of the unpleasant or irrelevant questions posed during the interview could be avoided; again, the interview process, in general, threw open many candidates who lacked the technical or required skills to operate proficiently in his/her role.  Still the interviewers had to go through the entire process for selection of the best candidate, among the list of finalized candidates appearing for the interview.

When the interviewers, sometimes asked stock questions, for which there could be no ready factual responses, Rahul had ended up making up stories around them; which in most cases, was an imaginary answer or plain guess work, not always convincing. The one question that the interviewers invariably asked was, 'If you are selected, how do you think you will be able to transform this company or bring a new perspective into the job?’.  How can a sane person who does not know the “ABC” of the organization, seriously answer such questions?  All that the candidate knew for certain was the position for which he had applied for and the first impressions he had gained on his interactions with the company personnel such as the receptionist or the HR Department official; other than that, there was nothing noteworthy for him to assess and answer such question.

Another question, the interviewers generally asked was, ‘What do you think are your weaknesses?’. As if anybody, in their right senses, would open up before the interview committee and discuss their innermost fears or apprehensions regarding their own shortcomings.  However, if one, did mention their weaknesses honestly, what if they rejected the candidate based on the responses.  Honesty is a rare virtue, but then, how many of them appreciate the human value attributes of the candidate, in an interview process.  Again, there were some standard questions, interviewers were prone to ask.  For example, ‘Why do you want to join this company’.  Rahul was not sure how he would reply to such questions.  If he had indicated that he was unable to cope with the pressures of the present company he was working with or he did not like his current boss, what would be the reaction of the interviewers.  Would they still select him as a job prospect, because he had not lied and spoken the truth? 

Most of the interviews Rahul had faced were for seeking jobs during the later years in his life.  Like they say, life had begun after 30 for Rahul; after he had upgraded his professional qualifications and migrated to the Middle East.  During the earlier phase of his life in India, he did not venture out much to seek jobs, nor were there any jobs on offer during the pre-liberalization period of the economy in India.  He had this strange lethargy and not belonging to the "aspiration" generation, he was not keen in seeking jobs or positions in life.  Quite content with the IT Operations Specialist job he had with a Private Company in India, Rahul was quite happy in the 9 to 5 routine.  There was no job stress or pressure on performance.  He just did his routine job and went home without any worries or pressures.  As there were less work pressures, he had a nice peaceful sleep.  Life motto, at that stage of his life was simple living and more simple thinking; he had no illusions or aspirations on his own skill sets.

After moving to the Middle East, he had settled down in one of the big four Audit and Consultancy firm with their Information Security Department which had offered him a decent salary.  Rahul was not pleased with his current job, though; the main reason was that his immediate Manager, was not a very considerate and understanding person. The Manager’s life motto seemed to be, to just harass his subordinates’ day in and day out to squeeze work and blow their minds with his wisdom.  He, probably, derived sadistic pleasure in bullying and underrating the performances of persons reporting to him.   Rahul stayed on the lookout for better opportunities, mainly to avoid daily friction with his Manager.  He badly wanted mental peace and a change in work atmosphere.  There were some job offers in the initial days and he did attend a few interviews, but none of them progressed into a concrete job offer.  One fine day, Rahul was invited for an interview for the position of Head of Information Security with a Retail Bank proposing to establish themselves in the Middle East region.  The Head of Risk Management, a person of Indian origin, was known to him and he was on the lookout for a fellow Indian with considerable experience, to report to him.  Rahul had appropriate work experience and right credentials for the position.  He was invited for the Interview at 1.00 PM, one afternoon.  Rahul took time off from his regular work schedule, informed his immediate senior that he had some personal work, and left his office as early as possible.  By the time he reached the Office where his interview was scheduled, the clock showed 1.15 PM.  The interviewers had already gathered in the interview room and the receptionist directed him to hurry along.  Rahul stepped into the interview room, sweating a little and apologizing for being late.  He could see that there were three of them seated in a round table.  The person of Indian origin, who was known to Rahul, was looking at him with slight disapproval, as he was a little late for the interview.  Rahul could feel that his confidence level was a bit low and the interview did not go that well. He wanted the interview to end as soon as possible.  After some few minutes, which had appeared to him as an interminably long period, the interviewers concluded their questions.  Rahul thanked them and literally sprinted out from the interview room with relief writ all over him.  He wanted to forget that he had appeared for this interview.

Rahul had a surprise in store the next day; he was informed that he had been selected for the position of Head of Information Security by the Retail Bank which had interviewed him.  Rahul was shocked albeit pleasantly, that in spite of his bad performance in the interview, he had been selected to the position.  He thought that, may be, the contact person, who had known him, had influenced the selection process.  Rahul was asked to submit his credentials the next day at the Bank’s main office.  When he went to submit his credentials the next day to the Human Resources Department, he was told that the Head of Risk Management (the person of Indian origin known to him), who had interviewed him the previous day had resigned from the Bank, and yesterday was his last day at the Bank.  This was news to him and he felt strangely disturbed because this was the person to whom he was supposed to report to, in his new position as Head of Information Security.  Rahul did not know what to say.  The Human Resources Head, who was a Middle East national, informed him confidentially, that the person who had interviewed him the previous day, had joined the big four Audit and Consultancy firm for which Rahul was presently working.  Yesterday, the day of his interview, was his last day.  Rahul wondered at the irony of the situation.  Rahul was planning to quit his firm to join this Bank, whereas his would-be boss, the interviewer, had already put in his papers and quit the Bank to join his current firm.

Rahul, then went to on discuss his contract terms with the HR Department.  The terms of employment were good and very well acceptable to Rahul.  He was asked to join the Bank as early as possible.  Rahul was happy with the salary raise he had bargained for and, most of all, relieved that he could escape from the clutches of his Manager, his immediate boss.  The very next day Rahul submitted his resignation with his current firm.  After the lapse of a month, as planned, Rahul reported to the new Bank after serving his notice period. 

As per his letter of appointment to the new Bank, he would be directly reporting to the Head of Risk Management. On his first day in his new job, Rahul was ecstatic and happy with the Bank environment. The Bank had a pleasant atmosphere and he had a beautifully decorated office, all to himself.  The perks included a Personal Secretary, as well.  After an hour or so, into his new job, Rahul was informed to meet the Head of Risk Management, his new boss, as soon as possible.  Rahul had not met the Head of Risk Management, his new boss, till now.  He only knew that the person of Indian origin, who had interviewed him had resigned and Rahul was under the impression that the position was still vacant.  However, it appeared that the Bank had filled the position immediately and hired a new person.  As he had received a summons from the Head of Risk Management, he thought this was a good opportunity to go and meet with his new boss; and get acquainted with him.  Rahul, hurried to the Head of Risk Management’s office which was situated on a different floor in the same building.   He was asked to wait for a few minutes as the Risk Management Head was in a short meeting.  After a few minutes, the meeting was over and the Head of Risk Management was free.  Rahul went into the office of Head of Risk Management, with a smile pasted on his face.  He wanted to create a good impression and appear pleasant while meeting his new boss for the first time.  The Head of Risk Management, presently looked up, stood up with his hand outstretched and a broad smile on his face. Rahul’s face had gone ashen, with dismay and shock writ all over his face, as there stood in front of him, his old Manager from his earlier Audit and Consultancy firm.  He was the new Head of Risk Management!  He also later came to know that this new Head of Risk Management, his old boss, was instrumental in selecting him for this position and not his contact, the person of Indian origin, as he had presumed earlier.  Rahul had learnt a new lesson in the supreme irony of life!