Working Hours - overtime or pressure time?

[scorpio]

Talking about male-dominated offices, I have one experience to share.

I happened to work with one so-called strict boss who regarded himself to be a task-master. Though the official timings were 9.30 to 6, he laid an unwritten rule that no staff would leave the office before 7.30 pm. Life was like hell those days coz I have to travel for 1 hour to reach my home. Unable to balance work and home, during those 3 years of his reign, not a single female in the office got married nor dared to move in the family way. He measured efficiency by the number of hours you spend at the office . It was easy for male colleagues to laze around in the office till 9 pm, eat snacks (sponsored by the company, of course) and then go home just to sleep and ensure being in the good books of the boss. But, the females who had work waiting once they reach home ??

To top all irony, my dear male colleagues would call their wives at around 6-ish to inquire if they have left their office, reached home safe, finished preparing dinner, have children done their homework etc etc . Sadly, their eyes were too clouded to consider the plight of females working with them.

Not sure, if this can be called as 'violence' , but this is an example of chauvinism. Any thoughts?

[NM]

Scorpio,
My experience was a total opposite..
My immediate boss, a male, always delights that he is the last one to go home ....he used to say that he works hard etc and that none of us girls could do that. It happened so much so that all the ladies in my department decided to out-stay (is that correct word?) him.. So, we will all purposely go for a drink at the cafe after 5pm (end of working hours), come back to the office and start "working" ie, mainly finishing up some reports, or go for a line- tour (shopfloor) and check that everything was running normal, and sometimes, chat with with the production staff who're on shift etc.. ... these activities used to drag for abt 2 -3 hours .....and usually, my immediate boss would leave at about 7.30pm...
So, the moment his car leaves the compound (yes, we have spies, too! ), we will all pack our bags and leave..
Once, when he was still in the office, our big boss came and saw that we were working and then, looked hard at my immediate boss and said "you ladies should go home, in fact, there's no use working till this hour, it doesn't mean anything, the only thing it means is that you are not capable of completing your tasks on time!!!!)"... Wow!! although we felt bad about it, at heart, we were all beaming with joy at words, my boss must have felt like he's been given a tight slap on his face!! So, I had both a good male boss and the direct opposite!

[scorpio]

True NM,

Bosses are sooooooooooo unpredictable!!

I always find it very tough with the 'burning the midnight oil' stigma in private sector. I too had another boss who regarded late-sitting as a definite sign of inefficiency. Sadly, this category has fewer people than the first one

[Sandeep]

Why should Women employees be given special preference in office. After all they are paid the same. Same kind of discrimination is done between married men and bachelors.

If you are woman you are the first to go home, second married men and last bachelors 'who are they going home to'. Non of your business sir/madam. A bachelor is paid the same salary as a woman or married man, how the hell can you then discriminate.

[Sandeep]

Late nights may be because of inefficiency or because of overload. Mostly it is because of overload.

[NM]

Sandeep..guess you have misinterpreted....or maybe, I should've finished the story...actually my big boss also repriminded my boss and told him HE (my boss) should set the example by going home on time!! So, whether you're a guy or gal, the moral of the story is "don't stay late"!

[mandangi]

There was even an article in 'Deccan Chronicle' (hyd. newspaper) last Dec. abt the increasing harassment of junior women IAS by senior male ones in Guwahati (Assam).....said tat sum of the women r forced to take transfer to other places while sum others r even forced to submit themselves to this treatment! Gawd! Tat is so pathetic!

Long ago i too read in news paper that in Punjab one women IPS officer was harassed by her senior.

[scorpio]

Another moral is 'Stay late only if u have work'. Late-sitting should be only if necessitated by work load and not as a practice just because it is costly to sit and enjoy in Air-conditioned comfort at home !!

[Sandeep]

Sandeep..guess you have misinterpreted....or maybe, I should've finished the story...actually my big boss also repriminded my boss and told him HE (my boss) should set the example by going home on time!! So, whether you're a guy or gal, the moral of the story is "don't stay late"!

I was not rebuking your statement. It was independant of your statement though about the same topic.

[Sandeep]

Another moral is 'Stay late only if u have work'. Late-sitting should be only if necessitated by work load and not as a practice just because it is costly to sit and enjoy in Air-conditioned comfort at home !!

Do you really think that anyone would prefer to stay late at office.