The race to do better than the best, chase targets and strive hard to fulfill company goals ruins the health, mental well-being, social, and family life of our professionals
Professionalism or Persecution
Best of the humans in our work force are stressed out in the name of professionalism. Too much workload, pressure to meet targets, to stay ahead, to be innovative and deliver better than their very own last performance, wrecks what should have been a peaceful and joyful existence. The pressures related to the job, if coupled with the callous attitude of the boss, can create havoc in the lives of hard working executives. They are left with no time for themselves or their families. If this goes on drastically, sometimes we also lose some diligent workers who are wiped out completely!
The race to do better than the best, chasing targets and striving hard to meet goals; this seemingly unending process engulfs days, weeks or months, or entire work years, affecting health, mental peace and family structure. The average emotional beings, humans are required to make a living through work to meet the expenses of everyday life, pay bills for health, food, and clothing, thus attempt to have a good time, enjoying their life with their family and friends in a cordially knit community. Ironically, they fulfill the targets and profits for the growth of companies at the cost of their own life’s peace and happiness. Then they become redundant, having spent over ten hours a day working and slogging off only to return home to find an annoyed, dissatisfied partner and kids too tired and sleepy to spend time with them. Years of such stress results in ill effects on health. This can render the set of lone executives lonelier still, having lost the enthusiasm, undervalued, and now chewed and spat out by the industry too. What kind of mental ailments are being passed on to a cohort of professionals? What is responsible? Professionalism!!
Think before you let go of an employee in the name of fast paced professionalism in the industry!!
Value of life
Naturally it is important for humans to work and create provisions for a good life and pleasure. It’s mandatory for the development and progress of communities. Through work we learn new things, get better skills and also create networks for interacting and business growth. In the process we make friends and sometimes meet our life partners too at workplaces, and have a satisfying living experience. Work more or less becomes the definitive purpose of life, above happiness, peace and blissful existence. The goals of the organization seem more meaningful for survival whereas personal life and family growth take the backseat.
‘I will be late today!’ ‘I don’t have time for kid’s school events.’ ‘You can handle it; I am not there, please samjha karo.’ ‘Bachhon ko samjhado, mein busy hun,’ are common phrases heard in most households. We work to live with our loved ones and not live to work!!
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”– Oscar Wilde
In the year 2019, over 1.5 lakh people died in road accidents in India, an average of over 400 deaths a day. Also in previous years, young adults in the age group of 18 to 45 years accounted for nearly 70 per cent of road accident deaths. The major causes cited for these accidents were human error, primarily related to speeding owing to time pressure of reaching on time, using mobile phones or sleep deprivation, time constraints and fatigue, all related primarily with work pressure.
Our purpose in life is our personal mission statement. We need to decide how we plan to make our mark in the world. This shall determine our actions and intent of your actions too. It strengthens the relationships, grants greater satisfaction, happiness and a peaceful life.
Job satisfaction gives more independence and more control over our life. While working, we are learning new things, getting more skills, and making friends with people we meet through work. People also intend to work to be part of and contribute to the wellbeing of the community.
Responsible leadership
Poor employee performance means poor management. Managers’ roles are not limited to planning, organizing, executing or controlling, above all they provide motivation and support to the employees in keeping up their spirits and enthusiasm to perform at their best. The lack of inspiring leadership can cause discontent in employees. Poor leadership skills and inadequate feedback by the boss can lead to poor performances.
The dearth of vision with the senior management leads to low performance; people tend to lose interest in a non challenging work environment after sometime. Meaningful work and substantial incentives with growth opportunities within the organization, lead to a greater job satisfaction. Some corporations believe in downsizing the resources which leads to concerns, prioritizes change, and the employees’ growth is overlooked for company profits. The chances are that those who directly work towards making profits are sidelined or ignored. They need to put in more efforts to retain their jobs. How will they then have a balance in work life and personal life? Or we shall be responsible for a rather increased number of workers challenged by mental disturbances.
Wellness Factor
“With the truth, all given facts harmonize; but with what is false, the truth soon hits a wrong note.” –Aristotle
Companies must recognize the importance of maintaining a healthy life and work balance for the employees for it can adversely affect their performance. There is a standard code of conduct considered as good ethics to constantly adhere to. Professional ethics is a fundamental requirement for any profession. This is a system of moral principles guiding appropriate conduct and is vital to the success of a business. It is also responsible for leaving a mark about the organization in the market that watches its many provisions for the growth and well being of the employees.
An organization continuously meets its goals while providing its employees with skill-building and job satisfaction. The contributions of the employees also play a pivotal role in this achievement through observance of ethical standards in professionalism. A lack of ethics can prove to be lethal to any employee’s performance. At work it’s the legal and moral guide, violation of which can be dealt with severely, even in a loss of job and goodwill earned in the industry. The leadership in businesses must set clear guidelines for ethical conduct and provide training for its understanding and adherence.
A well respected leadership leads a dynamic team to success in meeting targeted profits. Any display of misconduct to moral code by the manager can cause lack of trust, loss of respect, resentment and stress. And stress can lead to grave consequences. Some managers, insult particular employees and show them down in meetings and during presentations, bully them. They tend to misuse their managerial positions to revengefully get back at certain executives or simply to eulogize their ego. Whereas some violators still are allowed to grow in the company. Such moral misconducts must be recognized, reported, and punished. Transparency is to be established by the leadership in businesses for overall well being of persons inherent in the company’s growth, networking and ultimately leading to community welfare.
In the pursuit to ensure employee well-being, simple solutions are suggested for situations when an organization cannot afford salary increases, it can create trade-offs for personal life and work balance through various attractions, like,
- courses and training programs for skill up gradation
- long vacations or paid days off
- work from home option or flexible working hours
- cafeteria and subsidized meals
- gym, cultural activities and sports competitions
- invitations to talks, movies, plays, events, conferences and leisure trips abroad
Working restores our health, builds our confidence, self-worth and self-esteem. It is important to return to work as soon as possible after a break or medical urgency. Though, following a profession, controlled emotional involvement is recommended but one must express and stand up for one’s believes, being flexible in case of crisis is considered wise too!
The bottom line is, wellness should be your topmost priority. It’s you are responsibility to disengage yourself from a job and a company that doesn’t value you or provide incentives for your growth.
“Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.” –George Bernard Shaw
Certain workplaces follow clear rules in professionalism like expected dress code, social media usage at work, display of desks, etc. Whether rules are also laid for what is regarded as professional behavior at meetings, or mannerisms in dealing with a lady co-worker, or even public insults by the boss? These act of throwing an employee’s report in front of the team; high jacking the power point presentation prepared by a subordinate; taking the advantage of the revenue figures initiated by the other; the list is unending…all have their own! This needs to change.
Ethics in profession
“It is most important that top management be quality-minded. In the absence of sincere manifestation of interest at the top, little will happen below.”
“For many phenomena, 80% of consequences stem from 20% of the causes.” — Joseph M. Joran
Professionals are well dressed, well mannered and are the faces of the organization. Being a professional requires more than looking good in a nice suit. They are personifications of professional and ethical behavior at work place while dealing with job situations and others — colleagues, clients, higher management, stake holders, and partners. Both vertically and horizontally this code of conduct must be followed.
As a result of a working tradition in the history of human beings, work culture today acquired the status it has. Work means an appropriate reward at the end. Earning is pivotal to our existence, financial independence, to satisfy the urge of being meaningfully useful, socialize and gain pleasure forming a personal identity and status in society. These things are ironically equated with peace, happiness and well-being — the ultimate goal of all existence.
We have heard this before, ‘Professionalism is not the job you do, but it’s the way you do the job.’ This involves, being open to learning, prompt to action, attention to detail, fulfilling commitment, basically fitting-in the work culture is important. Respect for women and other colleagues, team work, undermine vested interests, curb ego trips, and remain calm, poised in challenging situations, being true to yourself while upholding moral code and behavioral ethics in work environment is of great importance. Yet the professional ethical code should be followed vertically and horizontally for the well-being of all.
On the other hand, unethical behavior at the workplace can be detrimental to building trustworthy teams affecting the set goals and targets. Corporate that values the employees and their contributions grow. Professionally they strive consistently to achieve high standards. But can this happen in the world of cut throat competition? We can all together try it! Realizing the worth of a healthy family life and work balance, the leadership enables them to be happier and more productive.
