They reach office before time, work not just till 5 p.m., but beyond. Why, they can be found on their seat in office even at 9 p.m.! The guard wishes them goodnight before leaving for the day. Even after working so much, they have unfinished targets to achieve, and unapproachable deadlines to reach — because they are always asking for more! They want to prove how hard-working they are by sitting in front of their blue screens all night. They wake up groggy the next day, only to repeat the cycle. They have no sense of time — breakfast, lunch, dinner all bow down in front of them. The humble sandwich meekly agrees to be all that is there for their “meals”, simply because bread is something that can be had on the go at the office desk itself! Why waste time to go to the canteen and have food?
And God forbid, if a senior-level position is occupied by this species, then all hell breaks loose for juniors. The juniors too are expected to work like machines 24x7 as if they have no family, no friends, no hobbies, nothing else to do except work! The juniors are then pestered to come on weekends to finish the work because the senior can’t breathe till the work assigned is completed.
Welcome to the dreary world of workaholics! This species finds nothing wrong in doing what they are doing. In fact, they talk with extreme pride about their workaholic nature and encourage such behaviour among their colleagues. In a country like India, workaholic behaviour is prided upon, and considered a feather in the cap, a jewel in the crown… a badge of honour! Workaholic behaviour is rewarded and revered here, except in a few MNCs, which are more aware of the need for a work-life balance to maintain mental health. People who follow the 9-5 schedule are looked down upon- “ Arree , she comes at 9 and leaves at sharp 5!” (So? Aren’t those supposed to be the office timings?) How much output is coming out of whom, nobody cares. What matters is the number of hours one appears glued to your office seat.
Work-life balance, what’s that? They believe in making everyone work 24x7 sans any connection to friends, family, or any time or energy being left for hobbies or physical fitness or exercise. Hobbies? What’s that? You are not supposed to have any, anyway! Then it doesn’t matter if you go mad, or become a working-talking machine! “No time to stand and stare…” “At what?” “Nature… nature’s beauty…!” “What’s that?” they ask. Work for them is just a cut-throat competition arena, and “life is a race!”
Contrast this with the five Nordic countries, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, and Norway, which consistently rank high up there in happiness index rankings. They work for limited hours daily, do not work on weekends. “Then what do they do with the rest of their time anyway,” the workaholics ask. Well, that’s the difference. They have a life beyond work… work is just a part of their life, not their life. Nothing is, in fact; everything is just a part of our life. Nothing can be termed “our life”!
Where is the creativity in routine? How does the mind get new ideas if it does the same thing day in, day out? How does it expand its imagination if it doesn’t get to see, taste, feel, hear, smell something new every day? Even Einstein had acknowledged the import of imagination with this quote: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
