Monday 8 March 2010

Organising your life at work



Everyone likes to organise their life at work, the two have become practically intertwined, but where do you draw the line? What do you owe to your job, and what does your company owe to you?

Many workers in this executives office can be heard on the phone calling nurseries, energy companies and banks at all times of the day without the sense that you should at least be discrete when sorting personal business on work's time.

It is difficult to fit personal admin into your life (especially if you work regular hours), but surely you have to try. Whilst I don't want to side with employers completely, it riles me that everyone thinks they are owed something by the company (on top of salary and employee benefits).

If you asked all the employees in the country if they deserve to be paid more based on their performance at work, at least 75% would say 'yes'. Yet obviously, three quarters of the population are not underpaid, but it is difficult not to fall into the precipice of malcontent yourself:

'I deserve a promotion'

'If only I got that 5k more'

The rat race demands that you are always chasing that elusive next step up the ladder.

Going back to moments that make you want to hide under your desk, that dull Tuesday afternoon when a colleague pipes up from nowhere above the clatter of fingers on keys with:

'How much bonus are we getting this month?" it kills me.

Whilst you have been working on some god-awful labyrinth of a spreadsheet for the last few hours, your esteemed colleague has been checking flights and thinking 'am I going to get paid enough to cover this'?

Surely we all know the line has to be drawn somewhere . . .