Don’t define Efficiency by the Number of Work Hours!

The other day I was watching an Instagram video post where a young Founder was seen answering a question from another young man.

He was either an employee or, an audience.

Since start-ups are a craze these days, you will find a lot of such charismatic young founders on social media helping and supporting other aspirants.

But how much of their advice is practical and should be implemented?

It is a cautious evaluation left for the people who are consuming such content.

Back to the question from the young man.

Here’s what he asked, “Is it ok to work for 17-18 hours and should I be doing it to succeed?”

The question was pretty straightforward and the answer should have been straightforward. But the founder in question chose to answer it in some detail with some examples.

He quoted two such instances from real life where we never counted the number of hours that we put in and then went on to give an unclear response saying, “put it as many hours as required to grow and succeed”.

The examples that he quoted were –

1. We have put in endless hours into school. First, the 8 hours that we will spend in school and then another 3-4 hours for the different tuitions for the various subjects.
2. When we were preparing for competitive exams we again put in countless hours to crack the exams which is unlikely if you don’t put in those hours.

Both these examples were very practical.

But there was a flaw in where it was used. Here are a few things you should know about these two phases of life and why you had to put in these hours.

1. When you were working for donkey’s hours during school and after school, your only goal was to pass out with good marks or, get through a professional course that you were eyeing.
2. Most responsibilities were taken care of by your parents. Your only responsibility was to study.
3. You had no other family indulgence except for the weekends, which was fine when you were at school.

Compare it to a phase when you get into a job and are working for a company. Here’s what happens in those phases –

1. You are paid for the number of hours you are putting in. So if you put in additional hours, will you be paid extra, or is there a guarantee that you will be paid more in the future?
2. Your responsibility is not only towards your career. Instead, it is to your parents, your wife, your children, etc.
3. You cannot sacrifice family time for work because it has long-term repercussions on your relationships, your kids, and your overall health and well-being.

Are these two phases in life the same?

More hours at the office don’t guarantee more pay, better positions, or faster growth. In fact, it shows lower efficiency.

As a company owner, I would love to see my employees putting in more hours and working more because that gives me better returns for the dollar I am spending.

But as an employee, you need to keep in mind that the salary that you negotiated when joining the company was for 9 hours and not 15 hours.

So if you are working for 15 hours, you are essentially devaluing yourself and your worth.

But does that mean that you shouldn’t look at a career or, growth in your company?

No. That isn’t what I mean!

Here’s a story from the time I was working in my first organization.

I had to stay back at the office for some critical data that was to be sent to a client. And that data needed some inputs from the sales team which was placed remotely in the UK.

I received the data pretty late and that meant that I was in the office for more than 18 hours. It was 9 AM and as usual, my CEO came on his rounds to the floor. The entire floor was empty and he saw me in a corner and walked up to me.

He looked at me and noticed that I was in the same dress that he saw me the previous day.

“You don’t seem to have gone home yesterday”, he asked.

“Yeah! I had to send this critical data. I was waiting for the inputs from the UK office and hence had to stay back”, I responded.

He smiled and said, “Oh! that’s so nice of you”.

As he turned and walked, he looked at me once again and said, “Don’t make it a habit. Remember that if you can’t finish your work in 8 hours, you will never be able to do it in 16 hours. Plan better.”

That stayed with me through all my years.

Remember that efficiency is what is more important. Better efficiency will give you more productivity.

More hours doesn’t mean better efficiency and hence productivity!