MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS: WORKAHOLISM

MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS: WORKAHOLISM

DELVES INTO THE CHALLENGES OF DEALING WITH A WORKAHOLIC BOSS WHO DEMANDS THE SAME DEDICATION FROM  SUBORDINATES

    WORKAHOLIC BOSSES often tend to have unreasonable expectations from their team-members. Ashish Arora, founder and MD, HR Anexi elaborates, “A workaholic boss generally works long hours and continues to remain connected with work, even during weekends. If this behaviour is restricted to the boss only, it can be perceived as an individual choice. However, when the boss expects similar efforts from his/her employees, it creates a stressful work environment and a clash of working styles.”
    Such a situation can disturb one’s work-life balance and pattern of work in an effort to please the boss. Keyuri Singh, VP-HR, Blue Star Infotech explains, “In a lot of Indian companies, the parental style of management leads people to believe that the only way to corporate success is by listening to the boss and emulating him/her (if she/he sits late in office, many assume that it is the only way to keep him/her pleased). This leads to wastage of time and can ruin an employee’s work-life balance.”
    Shrutidhar Paliwal, VP and head-corporate communication and media relations, Aptech Ltd, tells us how it is important for employees in such a case to convey to the boss that quality matters and that is what they should be judged upon, “Every individual possesses a different working style. Working overtime doesn’t imply that the employee is hardworking. In fact, it can often be a sign of poor time management and work inefficiency. It is important for the employer to consider ‘work quality’ as a key factor in evaluating an employee’s performance. If this is not the case, then the employee should communicate to the boss that the job requirements and the boss’ expectations don’t match and he/she is compelled to make a choice.” 

 
What measures can be taken to deal with a workaholic boss? Sujata Barla,VP- marketing, Edureka, answers: Prepare a plan of the tasks in hand. Prioritise the tasks (ask the boss for a priority list) and set target completion dates.This ensures that you are working only on high priority tasks;
Stick to the committed completion dates;
Communicate well with the boss. Send him/her a daily or weekly report of the status of your projects;
Don’t be afraid to say ‘no’ to a task. It should always be accompanied with a proper logical explanation.