For those of you who might be too lazy to click on a link... I'm posting it here

Infosys' Chairman and Chief Mentor Officer (CMO) - Mr.Narayana Murthy's
Speech on working long hours:

I know people who work 12 hours a day, six days a week, or more. Some
people >do so because of a work emergency where the long hours are only temporary.
Other people I know have put in these hours for years. I don't know if they
are working all these hours, but I do know they are in the office this long.

Others put in long office hours because they are addicted to the workplace.
Whatever the reason for putting in overtime, working long hours over the
long term is harmful to the person and to the organization.

There are things managers can do to change this for everyone's benefit.
Being in the office long hours, over long periods of time, makes way for
potential errors. My colleagues who are in the office long hours frequently
make mistakes caused by fatigue . Correcting these mistakes requires their
time as well as the time and energy of others. I have seen people work
Tuesday through Friday to correct mistakes made after 5 PM on Monday.

Another problem is that people who are in the office for long hours are not
pleasant company . They often complain about other people (who aren't
working as hard); they are irritable, or cranky, or even angry.Other people
avoid them. Such behaviour poses problems, where work goes much better when
people work together instead of avoiding one another.

As Managers, there are things we can do to help people leave the office.

First and foremost is to set the example and go home ourselves. I work
with a manager who chides people for working long hours. His words quickly lose
their meaning when he sends these chiding group e-mails with a time-stamp
of 2 AM, Sunday.

Second is to encourage people to put some balance in their lives. For
instance, here is a guideline I find helpful:

1. Wake up, eat a good breakfast, and go to work.
2. Work hard and smart for eight or nine hours.
3. Go home.
4. Read the comics, watch a funny movie, dig in the dirt, play with your
   kids, etc.
5. Eat well and sleep well.

This is called recreating . Doing steps 1, 3, 4, and 5 enable step 2.
Working regular hours and recreating daily are simple concepts. They are
hard for some of us because that requires personal change. They are
possible since we all have the power to choose to do them.

In considering the issue of overtime, I am reminded of my eldest son.


When he was a toddler, If people were visiting the apartment, he would not
fall asleep no matter how long the visit, and no matter what time of day it
was. He would fight off sleep until the visitors left.. It was as if he was
afraid that he would miss something. Once our visitors' left, he would go
to sleep. By this time, however, he was over tired and would scream through
half the night with nightmares. He, my wife, and I, all paid the price for his fear
of missing out.

Perhaps some people put in such long hours because they don't want to miss
anything when they leave the office . The trouble with this is that events
will never stop happening. That is life! Things happen 24 hours a day.

Allowing for little rest is not ultimately practical. So, take a nap.
Things will happen while you're asleep, but you will have the energy to catch up
when you wake.

Hence "LOVE YOUR JOB BUT NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR COMPANY"
(Because you never know when it stops loving you )"

Narayana Murthy