After a hardwork and serious studies of 4 years, my friends and I got our Economics degrees from the University of Karachi. Before jumping into the job market we were all afraid of our future because we had heard stories that in Pakistan, good jobs are only landed by using bribery, influence (sifarish) or other unfair means.
On the contrary, soon enough, most of my University buddies landed themselves good jobs in banking sector which paid them handsomely with attractive perks and all on merit. So it came as a blessing and good surprise that most of us got decent jobs without any unethical means.
At present, most of my friends qualify as part of the burgeoning middle-class, which has been progressing decently by earning good money. They live in comfortable houses, their kids go to good schools, they travel in cars leased from the loans from their banks and they eat fast food. To sum it all up they have the status and the lifestyles that remains a dream of millions of other Pakistanis.
Life is imperfect though. My friends also have their share of problems which is affecting their lives in one way or the other. In most cases, these problem occur due to creeping work hours. In the begining they look harmless and go unnoticed, because they are accepted as a norm of corporate life in Pakistan. But slowly but surely cracks began to appear in the fabric of family life. Earning men and women in Pakistan now find themselves spending more and more time in office and less and less time with thier spouses and children.
Some say it is the norm of corporate culture; Some say it is the way their bosses want them to live their office-lives and some say it is nothing but the way things work in a salaried society. But I want to call it exploitation. Exploitation of making employees sit late in the offices to work like a bullock in fields. The work hours now go well after their scheduled 9-5 timing.
Sitting late in the office is making people perpetually tired and irritated. Wives are getting enormous burden of caring for the whole family without due support from their husbands. It is disturbing the balance at home and can lead to lot more severe repercussions. More and more, wives alone are helping children to do well in studies in stiffer competitions at schools; they do shopping for the whole family including their hubbies alone; they drive cars to pay utility bills and look for plumbers, electricians and what they get at the end of the day? A sleepy and tired husband irked after long and tiring day at job which usually spans around 12-15 hours.
I have come across several people in private companies who work untill midnight just because their companies look to get bulk of work done with the lean work force. In some offices, bosses like to sit late in the offices just to show how efficient and effective they. This puts extra pressure on the staff who also tend to stay late and don’t want to appear as those who dare to leave before the boss.
My brother works in a renowned Pharmaceutical Company where work hours stretch to days. My family has seen him spending nights in the offices sleeping on the office desks because they have to finish a project no matter how and no matter what. Recently, I heard from my brother that one of his colleagues quit the job because his parents, and especially his sick mother couldn’t bear his late sittings after what happened with peace and law in recent months in our country.
Money is important. There is no argument against it. But one should not get so blindedsighted in the greed of it that we fail to understand that money is good only when we can have time to spend and enjoy it.
As increased numbers of heart diseases and heart attacks in Pakistani males has something to do with the kind of culture that prevails at our workplaces. Enormous pressures of getting the most out of our jobs to give better futures to our children are making men and women of Pakistan, money-making machines. Our marriages are also getting disturbed by this trend because wives think of themselves as maids who were brought from their parents houses to tender to husband and his family single-handedly. Children are also getting used to the fact that they have only one person to tell each and everything and that is their mothers because their fathers are always in the office.
We need to understand this and stop this exploitation at the hands of our organizations because we are their employees not their slaves.
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ATP post on Similar topic: Job Security in Corporate Pakistan
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First thing that comes to my mind is ‘Time Management’.
How much time do people really spend working?? With so much flow of information through emails, online chatting and all other browsing activities , I think people hardly work for 70% of the time they are paid for.
These things were missing a decade ago so people were more time effective.
I do understand that some managers in Pakistan exploit the people like slaves but this is not always the case.
If one thinks that s/he has to work all the time ( not occasionally ) what one person can do then s/he can ask the boss to hire 3 people instead of two and divide the salary. This way one more person will get the decent job but is one willing to share??? Company always has limited resources and time and they are there to make money. It may sound bitter but this is the fact. You can not have everything in life.
I have worked in Pakistan and few other countries across the globe, corporate and non-corporate environments, and my observation comes to in-effective time management.
When I see many people in Pakistan ( or anywhere else) getting high salaries whining I just wonder if they have ever asked a little girl who is selling flowers at every traffic light, how many hours does she work!…or a guy from lower economic classes who is as good as any other in the country but he never got any opportunity.
Lets separate ‘working at ungodly hours’ from ‘hard work’ in this discussion. I think the Pakistani society needs some serious overhaul in the time management dept. and more sense of hard toil in the citizenry. There is absolutely nothing wrong with more hours if it is getting you somewhere in life, as the writer does admit, but the way the majority of the nation has fallen into the habit of late late nights and late late mornings is really irksome.
I believe, salaried employees should give their best in the 8 hours they are at job and go home when time is up. BUT when need may arise to meet deadlines, an occasional late sitting or occasional week-end work should be acceptable.
If employees have to put in lots of long hours regulalry then the fault lies either in project planning OR employees are not being efficient in their 8-hour day.
Ahsan, has brought up a great point of toll on families b/c of spouse’s regular long hours. It is a very valid concern.
The comments here have been very educational for me and great to see a meaningful discussion forming up.
The maximum exploitation of resources and labor for the maximization of profit is the name of the game for many corporations. Their operational ethics is looking out for their investment and not the problems of their employees’ families that working late into the night hours may create. Or for that matter, the neglect of family responsibility or social needs which may bring untold misery and problems. The Corporate social responsibility is yet to be a factor in our parts of the world.
On the other hand, there are many employees that spend a great deal of time in unproductive and non-work activities – shuffling papers and files. Try going to a bank to solve a discrepancy and you will soon discover the work apathy and run around that you may face. The work ethics sucks. For the manager, if s/he is in – the volume of staff running in and out is incredible. This is either due lack of delegation of responsibility or responsibility without any authority – or the staffs has the bad attitude problem. For many corporations, personnel problems are their biggest challenge due to poor work ethic.
Both of these situations need to change for the work environment to be conducive – a win-win situation for both the owners/management and the employees.
My Friends,
After coming to the US in late teen age and spending 17 years in the US in College/Corporate America I believe that you cannot look at hours/environment in isolation. It is great to see so many great Pakistani brains at work on this blog making sensible arguments. However, the nature of the Pakistani culture and family for most part helps share much of the burden of the hard work and stress. That family fabric and structure of helpers at home and work still provides some support in a hard days work. As pointed out earlier by someone, corporate culture is not a sprint, but rather a life long Marathon. I agree though when there are disagreements about how hard you have to work in the U.S. It is based on the industry, field, and perhaps the nature of your management. But one thing that stands out every time I come to Pakistan and visit with my friends who are doing fairly well in their careers is that; people work hard in Pakistan as well, but the ratio of the people with a very strong work ethic is unbalanced in the favor of U.S. Even after achieving everything that the U.S has achieved the system as a whole is working for relentless improvement. To the extent that if you are not part of the system you are very quickly left behind(Out of a job even). Pure and simple laissez-faire capitalism.
As a Pakistanis, we still have to achieve much. As long as one can continue to balance our life priorities to some level, I say keep on pushing as hard as you can. Never be afraid to push yourself harder because you will find creative ways to balance family, life, and a successful career. Failure to push harder always leads to not knowing if you could have accomplished more on all aspects of life.
@ ” Shaikhspeare”
this is not “Macbeth” !! its hard-working- over-time
riddnen- obidient- corporate- class- culture of Pakistani
unsecured Romeos still looking for their Jullietes
in vain. What is awaiting for pakistan ?
a propos :
Your lovely photo probably of the main banking avenue
of Karachi, with splendid full moon reminding me of the
Late His majesty Muhammed Rafi ‘ famous song
” Chaudewin ka chaand ho, ya aftab ho,
jo bhi ho tum Khuda ki qasam, lajawab ho ”
Muhammed Rafii Zindahbaad
On the one hand, I do agree that we need to work hard be it 9-to-5 or 9-to-9. It doesnt matter as long as the job is done, and done so at its best. But I am worried about how people (in this modern professional world of ours) are beginning to sacrifice time with their families and even for themselves. Those who talk about the US/Europe, and how people there work very late and very hard, shouldnt forget about the high divorce rate, neglect to children, personal physical (obesity, heart disease) and emotional health (stress, temperamental disorders) problems prevalent there. And its not just there, I have experienced and discussed similar problems with people in the London (City), Hong Kong etc. People in these places may be more affluent compared to say 40 years ago, but are they happier? I think not! My recent visit to Karachi tells me the corporate/professional culture (mostly in the banking/financial sector I have to say) there is falling into the same trap: professional and financial gain (at the cost of personal and family well-being) is what is highly valued.
But then I do realise that to develop and progress, society on the whole does need to put in a lot of effort, thought and hard work. Social and economic development (both at personal and national levels) does not come easy. Our scientists need to solve our problems, our bankers need to sustain our economy, our academics (and students) do need to pursue rigorously, and our parents/spouses do need to helps us out with this.
I am an academic, spent last 10 years of my life working away, getting the publications, doing the evening tutorial runs, and so on. But lately I think, I try to come home a bit early on days when I can. Those extra couple of hours playing with my kid, talking to my dad and just being around my family, I think are worthed. People tell me I smile more these days. I agree.
Life is a delicate balance, between the mutiple roles that we are forced to adopt and our aspirations (be it material/professional). Every day is an attempt at getting it right - who says its easy…
Well, I agree with [Japanese Name], the work environment is not that bad in the U.S. Anwar is right in some regard; however, the people who do work relentlessly in the U.S. CHOOSE to do so…i.e. they do not do it because they fear losing their jobs. I’m a Ph.D. student and often end up sleeping in the lab, pulling “all-nighters” to crunch numbers and finish manuscripts that were due yesterday, etc….but again, I do it because I enjoy it.
Also, I may have limited experience, but there is one BIG POINT I’d like to mention….I don’t mean to sound cynical, but the vast majority of people in any given workplace, do 1 hour’s work in 10 hours’ time….i.e., most people are not actively working all the time….that is why I like working with people who judge progress in terms of actual work done, as opposed to the number of hours spent.
I used to have co-workers who came in earlier, left later, and were constantly typing…typing God knows what! because their programs always failed, their background knowledge was zero, etc etc.