Priorities

A pal of mine in a very senior position recently decided that work was sucking too much out of him, and decided to (at least) take a sabbatical and spent time with the family. He put in his papers last week.

 

Guess what the reaction of his boss - the guy who heads the company was?

 

1. Instill fear - "How will you manage your cashflows after a couple of months?"
2. I don't know how to put this - "You can at most spend 5-10 minutes with the family. What'll you do for the rest of the day?"

 

Questions about one's own health, interests, growth as a human being etc never entered the conversation.

 

My friend works at a staffing/outsourced HR outfit. And his boss used to head HR at an MNC earlier!!

 

There is a lot of sickness in what we call our "workplace". Its certainly not a healthy place anymore. There's too much money, too much greed, and too much emphasis on grabbing more and fear of not being able to.

 

Thankfully, the conversation hammered home this truth in my friend's head. "The whole 'quality time' crap is a corporate invention, Sameer", he says. "Bulls**t, you just need to spend time - yes - quantity - with your family, near and dear ones, friends."

 

True. Which do we do for which?