Team-BHP - Working hard can kill you

Quote:

Originally Posted by drmohitg (Post 3217243)

This is actually a known fact. According to a study in USA the patient mortality rates in Hospitals are highest in the months of July to October because this is the time when the whole work load is literally shifted on to the fresh batch of residents who in view of there ungodly work hours are bound to make crucial errors and mistakes.

Is it because they are new - i.e. inexperienced or is it because they are made to work ungodly hours? Or both? Because, I would guess they continue working ungodly hours even after October.

Quote:

Originally Posted by carboy (Post 3217258)

Is it because they are new - i.e. inexperienced or is it because they are made to work ungodly hours? Or both? Because, I would guess they continue working ungodly hours even after October.

It might be a combination of factors. Inexperience might also play a role although they have finished there medical schools and elective clinical rotations and passed a series of exams to be eligible to start there residency. But that particular study pinned the blame on work schedule. I assume after a period of time you then get used to the working hours and hence the less number of mistakes.

The author Terry Pratchet had [something like] this to say about deadlines: "I love deadlines. I love the sound they make as they go wooshing past!"

My timekeeping has never been good (and to be honest, my time management is not much better) and my natural clock rhythm tends towards nocturnalism (as many of my post times will confirm!). Thus, 9.00am in the office was something I did not see very often.

I was working for a Japanese company too, and they are, err, somewhat partial to punctuality. I must have done something good, because they let me get away with it for 11 years!

One day, one of my Japanese ex-pat colleagues told me, "We like to see everyone at their desks at 9.00am. Frankly, we don't much care if they are working, just that they are there!"

But, as to the hard life of City finance companies, to which some have attested, I'm afraid that the attitude is to hire them young and wear them out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 3217265)

[/i]But, as to the hard life of City finance companies, to which some have attested, I'm afraid that the attitude is to hire them young and wear them out.

The time I spent working in the corporate sector made me realize quickly that the corporate structure has become/is becoming highly process oriented i.e. everybody except the executive team can be replaced quickly and can be made redundant without hampering the process structure in place.This creates an environment of high competition/uncertainty/KRA driven deadlines.Its good for the bottomline as there are easy replacements at entry/lower levels working their A$$ off to prove themselves worthy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki (Post 3217022)

Sad to say that people in my office also think like that. People should look at productivity instead of time spent in office!!!

Activity vs Productivity. That is the eternal debate in terms of 'quantifiability'...with a bit of fudging so that no one is the wiser, a worker who is strongly and noisily active might end up overshadowing another who is silent but highly productive.

I hate the new fangled Corporate culture that seems so inescapable these days....big car, big house, fancy lifestyle etc...these seem to be the new holy grails at the cost of honesty, decency, good manners, fairness and transparency.