MCreates

When I graduated from the university, I had plans and goals that I wanted to achieve at a certain age. I wanted to work for a big company and work really hard so I could own a house and a car at the age of 25. Just 5 years after graduating from the university. Did I reach that dream? Nope. And after years of experience, I realized how only a few will be able to achieve that. It is not completely impossible but it will definitely be extremely rare if you are planning to do it as an employee.

My first real job required me to work long hours every day. I start at 8am and end between 12 midnight and 2am, except Wednesdays when I normally go home at 9pm. I wake up at 6am, commute to work, start working at 8am, take a few breaks for food and continue working, go home, then sleep and wake up again. A cycle, a tiring cycle. I did get extra money from working overtime, but by the time I got out of the office, all the shops were closed, and I was too tired to do anything. It felt like my brain was dying from the monotony of my daily life. Before that, I used to be able to write some short stories or poems during my free time, but when I took that job, it was like all my brain could think about was sleep and rest. My vacation days were spent sleeping or being sick. And sometimes I wish that I would get sick so I have an excuse to rest.

My Journey

After 2 years of working in that company, I decided to look for other options and found a job as an online content writer for a lifestyle website. It was a start-up, and I was one of the first 3 employees working on the ground floor of a residential building. I got to do what I want to do, which is write, work regular hours, and still see the sun when I get off from work. My life was better, but the pay was not that great until the company decided to get into offshoring, and I got promoted from being a writer to Human Resource Head to Operations Head. Then, as years went by, my role evolved to Vice President for Operations. As the company grew, my role expanded, which, again, turned to long working hours and more responsibilities. Our operations are 24/7, so I was on call every day, 24 hours a day. I remember celebrating my birthday with my family and receiving a call from one of my managers asking me what he would do about the client who complained about their staff’s absence. It was a simple incident that he could have handled and I ended up getting frustrated and not enjoying my day. There have also been instances when I need to open my laptop during a holiday to deal with clients who need something or are complaining.

That was until I was able to train my team to be independent and trusted them to make the right decisions. I pulled myself out of the daily tasks and started taking a step backward to enable my team to work on their own. First, I created a manual where I wrote down all the processes we handle, including options for cases when they need to make their own decisions. It was like putting my brain into a document. How I expect things to be handled, and what guidelines they need to follow when making their decisions. It was a live document where every time something happened, we wrote down the scenario and how we dealt with it and also added a couple of what-ifs in case it was not exactly the same as the previous scenario. Eventually, the team learned to be independent.

It did not really happen instantly. We had our trial and error along the way, and even after a couple of years, some of them still call me for something they should have been able to handle on their own. When they do, I would ask them what do you think you should do? Or what does the manual say? It forces them to think and analyze the situation on their own, and I just needed to confirm that they were right or guide them toward the right decision without instantly giving them the answer.

After some time, the team was able to work independently. I managed to develop leaders and not just followers. The manual is there to guide them, but the decision they make is theirs. They make mistakes and learn from them. They have grown into their role and learned to make decisions and own their decisions. I just needed to be there to support and guide them and provide them with strategic directions.

And in turn, I was able to get my life back. I was finally able to attend painting lessons, write poetry, and attend photo tours. I would not have done it without having a great team. I am probably lucky to have hired people who are good at their jobs and have good work ethics, and more lucky because they stayed with me for years. The company was a start-up, I didn’t have any management experience beforehand, and we were all learning as we went along. That probably helped in maintaining a good relationship and retaining my team, but I think the main thing is that we treated each other as humans. That all of us have a life outside the office that we also need to nurture. We all tried to support each other so we could all have life outside the four corners of our office. That mothers can become mothers. People get to keep healthy relationships with their loved ones by attending school events, celebrating anniversaries and other special occasions, and learning new things.

Summary

I guess to sum it up, it would be right to say that the company we work for has a great impact on our lives, not just financially but on the quality of the life we live. As leaders, we decide how we manage our team which directly impacts their lives. I remember the news from the other day when the CEO of a company shared how he decided to reduce the working hours from 8 hours to 6 hours in his company. He had been working hard for years, which resulted in him getting sick with cancer, and after recovering, he said he wanted to live a more balanced life and have his employees do the same. Most would think that productivity will be less because of the fewer hours, but he said it actually has gone up.

I think I did my part. I provided my team with the skills they need to do their job. I removed the bottleneck of always relying on me for decisions and allowed them to decide in my absence. This removes the frustration on the team when they cannot reach me during a holiday and on my side when I could not enjoy my holiday because I had to deal with issues. And, I supported them in their interests and in living their life, in fact, we supported each other. We all gave each other the freedom to live our lives. I didn’t care if they need to leave on time or early as long as they finish the job and do it well. Whenever they asked me for permission to take a day off or leave early, I only ask them these questions: Do you have anything pending? Can the team manage in your absence? Saying yes means they did their part and that they are prepared. If they have anything pending, they let me know about it and I cover it or they assign someone to cover for them, and vice versa when it is the other’s turn to take a break.

Work-life balance or allowing our employees to recharge does not only allow them to have a better life. Studies show that rest boosts creativity and promotes mental rejuvenation, which helps in better decision-making. Working long hours may be necessary on certain occasions but it should not be a way of life. Let’s reassess how we work and find ways to make life better, not just for us but for those we work with.