Over-Worked, Under-Creative

In Taiwan, people are dying from working long hours.  We have seen this in other cultures, notably in Japan where there is a word for it, Karoshi.  While these headlines refer to sudden death, our culture euphemistically calls the syndrome “success” and the illness “stress” - an equally certain, but longer-term killer.  The causes are working excessive hours, taking few or no breaks, and never disconnecting from the internet.

Managers are indeed both victims and perpetrators of excessive hours and stress.  However, management and victimhood should be incompatible terms.  It is our responsibility to ensure the workplace is a healthy environment, and without modeling healthy behaviours, we subliminally instruct our staff to ignore their health also.  We need to come in to work and leave work relatively according to the hours of business, leaving the briefcase in the office.  We must not send emails to staff and colleagues throughout the evening and on weekends – make a note and send it in the morning.  We should take our own vacations and schedule the work of our staff in a way that they can leave for weeks at a time.

Ironically, the payoff of working reasonable hours is that you and your staff will get more important work done.  You will all shed tasks that have little benefit.  You will all work naturally at a quicker pace with brains that are not half-asleep.  With more free time, you may meet more often with friends, renew your family ties, take up new sports, volunteer, or learn a language.  Everything we do outside of work actually contributes to our creativity on the job.  Outside influences give us new ideas, and relaxation lets our brains put two and two together.