Work Life Balance

Work Life Balance.

The age old term. More recently, we've heard about Work Life Integration. Last week, I watched a show called Severance (9 episodes) on Apple TV, which takes the work-life concept to another level. While the post below talks about the show's premise & I've tried to keep it spoiler-free, you may stop reading at this point in case you still wish to. 

So this show is about a unique firm. While the nature of the firm's operations is not known, it is shown that the firm has a unique way of treating all its employees. Every new employee has a chip implanted in their heads due to which their personal and professional lives are severed. Basically, the moment they walk into their office, they only have memories of the past life they spent in the office and none of the time spent outside of it. When they leave the office, they only have memories of their personal life they spent so far and none of the time spent at the office. 

While it is one of the best shows I have seen in the recent past, it has a season finale that will leave you gasping for more. A masterpiece. The reason for this post, though, is not to just appreciate the creative / artistic appeal of the show, but to also appreciate how deeply it captures human lives, the way we live our times at work and outside of it. 

- The show beautifully captures how organizations can influence an individual's freedom, rights and their core values without them even realizing it as they live through the values and rules set by the organization, believing it to be the only right way to exist. 

- It depicts how individuals seek solace at workplaces to forget/move away from challenges/grief we face in our personal lives and how slowly, our perceived self worth is defined by the place we work at.

- We've been hearing how important it is for managers and organizations to be empathetic towards their workforce and their personal/individual needs and situations. But the firm in the show optimizes its employees to leave out all their personal life thoughts and matters outside the office building, in order to ensure they operate with maximum efficiency, but do they manage to achieve the goal? 

There is so much more to talk about the show and its treatment of individuals at work, but I'll leave it for you to watch the show and soak it in. 

I assure you, it will be time well-spent. The show has left me gasping for more, and I hope there is a second season to it.

"...why is the right signal indicator blinking faster today...?"

"...why is the right signal indicator blinking faster today...?

...asked my kid last Saturday as we were going somewhere in the car. 

Apparently, the front side right indicator bulb had burned out. Those who drive a car would know that the car electricals are so wired that when one or more of the 3 direction indicator bulbs / blinkers (Front, Side & Rear) stop working, the other remaining bulbs as well as the blinker indicator on the car dash starts blinking at a higher frequency. This mechanism is set up to aid the driver, as, sitting inside the car, it is often difficult to know when any of the indicator bulbs are non-operational. 

So I told her about the mechanism. "I will have to get the bulb replaced & then it will blink at normal pace" I told her. Sunday morning, I took the car to the local mechanic to get the bulb replaced. On inspection, he found out that there was nothing wrong with the bulb. Further probing revealed that a rat had eaten the wire supplying power to the bulb, so he mended the connection and we were good. 

Now rats are a big menace for some car owners who do not have a great parking spot. I have been driving for over 12 years and have spent a lot of money on replacing wires feasted on by rats. Having tried everything from tambaku pudi (chewing tobacco powder) to naphthalene balls to camphor tablets to rat repellent sprays. Nothing works 100% at all times, but one has to keep at it. So after bringing the car back, I bought some tobacco packets & placed them under the hood, praying to Lord Ganesh & his Vaahan to spare the wires of my car. That was when I saw something interesting. The tobacco packet had a regulatory image & health warning but also a phone number on it to help consumers quit the habit. While tobacco & alcohol products always carry the health hazard warning, it was the first time I noticed a phone number on the product for quitting consumption as well.

- When you sense/see something going faster than usual, don't always think of it as progress. Sometimes a faster blinking indicator could mean something could be wrong & needs attention.

- At times, the most obvious deduction from observing an indicator can be completely wrong. I had assumed the bulb had burned out (from my driving experience of 12 years) yet it was actually a case of a broken connection.

- The mechanic could have easily taken me for a ride by telling me he had replaced the bulb. Instead, he told me he had just mended the wire for free. It is important to have reliable & genuine people to diagnose an issue at hand.

- Ironically, the people/companies who push us into a bad habit / wrong decision will often be the first one to offer help to get us out of it. It is up to us to identify them & avoid getting into play with them to begin with. 

- There is no perfect solution to keep rats out from under a car hood (except building a wire mesh around  the underhood assembly). If you have any other solutions, do let me know 😊.

"...this man is fake and scandalous. Why do you watch his videos...?"

"...this man is fake and scandalous. Why do you watch his videos...?"

...I asked my mom one day, a few years back, as she was watching a video on youtube. 

Mom has always been a learner all her life. A decade back, in her mid 60s, she had enrolled for a Mumbai university course on a topic close to her heart for which she had to study hard & attend classes on the university campus every weekend. A master of philosophy by qualification, she has always seen the bright side of life and never stopped learning. After she successfully completed that course & earned a certificate, smartphones had taken over the world. So I taught her how to use youtube to access videos on her topic of interest. She started listening to talks given by learned gurus/individuals, some of whom she held in high regards. She always keeps a notebook & pen handy to make notes about points she likes while listening.

On one such occasion she was listening to someone & taking notes. I realised this person was in the news recently for his involvement in a financial scandal. I told mom about it & told her how some of the known babas/sadhus/gurus were not as saint-like as they projected themselves to be.

"Some of them have been involved in bad practices & scams, they aren't good people" I told her. "I know" she responded, calmly. "Then why do you still listen to them knowing they are frauds?" I asked, curiously. "But I am not paying them. It is free. Knowledge is free." she said. Looking at my raised eyebrow, she continued, "I neither know them personally, nor do I pay to see/listen to them. They may have done things in their personal lives but that doesn't change the fact that they are learned & talk about a subject that I love. Listening to them is enlightening for me as I gain valuable insights & knowledge. If I am gaining so much sitting at home without having to pay even a penny, how does it matter as to what they do in their personal lives to amass wealth?" 

The master of philosophy had just made a very pertinent point. The content was out there. All she had to do was access it for free & enhance her knowledge. Maybe the guy was earning from the followers who made generous donations to his cause. That was immaterial for mom as a consumer.

The reason this memory came to my mind today is because one of the learned men mom follows passed away a couple of days back. But he wasn't the tainted guy I was referring to in this post. I am thankful to him for creating content that kept my mom engaged and aided her learning.

The same principle probably applies to all of us in general. When it comes to friends/colleagues/managers/leaders/influencers, we come across ones who we look up to. But we also come across ones who we feel are not ideal. It is then up to us to decide if we want to banish them in their entirety or absorb the good that they have to offer.

The finest of diamonds are probably found in the deepest darkest mines. All it needs is a good miner's mindset to find them.

"...VIP movement aahe, thaamba zara!..."

"...VIP movement aahe, thaamba zara!..."

...said the cop ["There is a VIP movement happening, just wait"].

A friend & I were going somewhere in a car. We were stuck in a long traffic jam leading to a signal. After a few min, just when it seemed we would comfortably cross the dreaded junction (the light was green & we just had a couple of cars ahead of us) a traffic cop came and shot his hand in front of the wind shield, signaling us to stop. The lights were still green, so we were obviously not amused after having crawled till that point and yet being stopped.

My friend rolled the window down and asked the cop "Why are you stopping us when the signal is green? Look at the traffic behind us, we've been stuck in this forever!" That's when the cop said what I quoted above. Apparently, some politician was on his way from the airport. So we waited there as we saw the vehicles from airport street being allowed to move out. This continued for the next 2-3 minutes as we kept waiting impatiently. Finally, we saw a set of cars pass through, many sporting flashing beacon lights.

"All for that entitled brat!" remarked my friend, giving them a dirty look. "How are they going to learn about the struggles of the common man stuck in traffic unless they go through the same as well and then work towards improving circumstances!" I concurred. This friend of mine likes visiting famous temples, so referring to one such visit, he said "The other day we were waiting for darshan at a temple and they wouldn't let us in till this one politician and his family were done offering their prayers. It is so disgusting, as if they have a first right to God..." "By the way," I interrupted his rant, "I have seen you take the VIP darshan queue by paying money once. How is that different?" I quipped.

For those who do not know, VIP Darshan is a separate queue where distinguished people or people who can cough up a "fee/donation/monetary offering" to bypass the usual queue for the general public. And since there are many such people who can do that, there is another, albeit shorter queue for such people. "Arree that's just for darshan yaar, to save some time, it hardly costs money!" he justified. "Wah! A separate queue for senior citizens or differently able is understood, but just because you paid money you get quicker access to God?" I asked. He just waved his hand dismissively and that was the end of the discussion.

If in a public set-up, we are using something that gives us an undue advantage over the public using the same set-up, then it is probably us exercising an entitlement without often knowing it. If we frown down on others doing it while we ourselves indulge in such practices, then that's definitely a red light we fail to spot.

"....I dont need this award..."

"...I don't need this award!..."

...he snapped, continuing to work on his desktop. 

Two colleagues, let's call them Jai & Veeru, started off as freshers in a team. Both had to analyse IT modules to resolve reported issues & also code fresh modules from time to time. 

In the first year, both did well in the work assigned to them. This company had a policy whereby each fresher was evaluated at the end of the first year & each was awarded a confirmation rating - A (top 5%), B (next 40%), C (next 50%) or D (last 5%). A typical bell curve GE would be proud of, which, thankfully, has been abolished by many firms since then. Each engineer would then get a hike commensurate with the rating.

This team only had 2 trainees. The project manager (PM) walked into the confirmation meeting with his peers, trying to get both of his team members rated at B. While all the PMs fought fiercely for their team members, the bell curve was sacrosanct. This PM was only able to secure one B. He had to settle for a C for the other one. Jai got a B. There is a funny line in the movie 3 idiots "𝘋𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘩𝘰 𝘫𝘢𝘺𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘩 𝘥𝘶𝘬𝘩 𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘪 … 𝘓𝘦𝘬𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘢 𝘫𝘢𝘺𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘩 𝘻𝘺𝘢𝘢𝘥𝘢 𝘥𝘶𝘬𝘩 𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘪" ["You feel bad if a friend fails, but you feel very bad if they come first"]. Though Jai had not secured an A, the fact remained that Veeru had scored a C while Jai, a B. Veeru was upset. It is not known whether Veeru was upset about not getting a B, or because Jai got a higher rating than him. Maybe he'd not be as upset if they both had got a C. 

So Veeru went to the PM to protest against the perceived injustice. The PM tried to explain his dilemma, but nothing would calm the angry young man down. In the subsequent month, awards were announced and Veeru won an award. The business unit leader and other leaders walked down on the floor to felicitate him. Veeru merrily accepted the award, but after everyone had left, he expressed his displeasure. "The award is just a consolation for not being given a rating B" he snapped at a junior who was sitting next to him. 

Till date, Veeru hasn't forgotten about the incident and somewhere in his mind, he holds this against Jai. Did Jai have any control over the rating he or Veeru got? Probably not. Being Veeru's peer, all Jai could see was that he worked hard equally, if not more, but after all, performance could best be judged by the manager and, given the constraint of having to pick one over the other, it was probably a touch and go decision for him as well. It could even be something else. After all, managers and leaders doling out promotions, hikes and ratings are mere mortals and not algorithm driven machines processing factual data.

Promotions/ratings/earnings/perceived progress often eats into the fibre of friendship and camaraderie if not kept in check. If you are a Jai, be mindful of the Veerus around you. If you are a Veeru, Jai ko maaf kardo yaar, uski bhi kya galti hai....

"...why don't you wear track pants for the morning walks? They are very comfortable..."

"...why don't you wear track pants for the morning walks? They are very comfortable..."

...said the younger of the two ladies, while sipping on the coconut water, as the summer sun blazed down upon the beach with all its glory.

I was sitting on a chair at the coconut vendor's cart after the jog at the beach this morning. I signaled at him to indicate that I needed a coconut after 5 min and not right away. A lady, perhaps somewhere in her 40s, was already sitting on one of the chairs with a coconut in her hand. A minute later, a senior lady (could be in her late 60s I guessed) walked up and took the chair next to her. 

Now there's something very fascinating about some ladies. And this is purely based on my observation and not a gender bias (I hope). They can work up a conversation instantly with any other lady on the globe and chat away to glory, having a good time. I have seen my mom do this a lot throughout my life. When I was a kid and we used to take the local train to go anywhere, she'd effortlessly start a conversation with a lady sitting next to her in the ladies compartment. "How can you just start talking to any unknown lady every time in a public place?" I'd often ask her...I never got a concrete answer to that though. 

Coming back to the scene at the beach,  these two ladies struck up a conversation and in no time they discussed about where they stayed (both had their home near the beach) and what their family members did. I had no intention of eavesdropping on their conversation but they were loud enough so there was no way to ignore the talk. I did not have popcorn to enjoy the conversation, but I figured it was time to ask for that coconut now. While I was sipping on some sweet and cool coconut water, I heard the following:

YL (Younger Lady) : Why don't you wear track pants for the morning walks? They are very comfortable.

OL (Older Lady) : I know they are very comfortable, I do wear them at times when we go on vacation.

YL : So why don't you wear them on these morning walks too?

OL : I can't. My jethji (husband's elder brother) stays with us and it wouldn't look good.

YL : Everyone wears such pants these days. What do your husband and son say about this?

OL: I've never discussed it with them. It is a small thing. Why bother. This Indian wear is fine too.

A couple of min later, all three of us bid goodbyes (the ladies atleast did to each other, while I bid them in my mind) as I pondered over what I had just heard.

We've seen several posts, articles, webinars and other content on empowering women around women's day and women's history month. How about making ourselves aware & encourage/empower our sisters/mothers/grandmothers/aunts to at least cater to their basic needs of comfortable dressing?

C̶h̶a̶r̶i̶t̶y̶ Awareness begins at home.

"...inko paani me daalo, tairna seekh jaate hai..."

"...inko paani me daalo, tairna seekh jaate hai..."

...I overheard a TL tell someone, as I passed her desk in Infosys back in 2006. ["you leave them in the water & they learn to swim by themselves"].

She was talking about us, the new crop of software engineers in the team. We were given a complex piece of code to analyze daily, which seemingly was beyond our capabilities. These were issues reported by our onsite IT team based at the client sites in the US.

The first few weeks were nightmarish. I would sit all day on it, yet could not figure out what was wrong. We usually got 2-3 days to find the issue. If we failed to crack the issue, a senior would pick it up, crack it in an hour & send the analysis to the onsite team. 

It was on one such occasion I was analyzing a code & even on day 2, I was clueless. I went to get some coffee [free coffee from the CCD machines felt like royal luxury back then] & on my way I overheard her & told a friend about it. He smiled & said "The code we are given to analyse is usually something that a senior is working on in parallel. The outcome of our effort hardly matters. The seniors do the RCA [Root Cause Analysis] & share it with the onsite team. Whatever we do is just for our learning.''

A couple of days later, I was given another issue to analyse. So, while I was keen to find the root cause, I was no longer under the same pressure, as I knew the onsite would get the RCA from a senior. I was nowhere close to the solution by day end. The next day, I started off with a fresh mind & by 3 pm, I was finally able to find the bug in the code. It was a superb feeling. Now I knew the issue would already have been sorted by a senior, so I did not inform anyone about my finding. Instead, I kept analyzing the code over & over again out of curiosity. While at it, I found an opportunity to optimize a database query (sorry if all this sounds too technical) in the code that could save a few hours in the program execution. So I wrote a query to replace the existing one & sent the RCA as well as my recommendation to the onsite team, knowing it would probably go unread. 

The next day when I logged in, the 5th unread mail from the bottom was an "Appreciation Mail" from onsite. Apparently, the due date for the code I had analysed was a week later so my senior had not yet worked on it. The database query I had optimized had resulted in quicker resolution of claims, so the client was happy & the appreciation mail was for that.

- So often, one has to be put in a difficult, seemingly impossible situation/challenge to fend for themselves, with minimal intervention, in order for one to learn to overcome such situations. 

- One often performs their best when one feels that nothing significant is expected of them, surprising self & others in the process. 

The TL I quoted here was Asmita Lonkar, who was a great senior to have around. As she had rightly predicted, aakhir mein main tairna seekh hi gaya...[Finally I had learnt to swim].