Weekly Roundup #12: The Question of Work.

Hey Adappters! Welcome to another edition of the Adappt Chronicle!

In today's edition, we are going to focus on 3 major topics that we think are very important to the essence of work.

1. The 70-hour work week (Yes, we are going there!)
2. Does working from home mean giving up your privacy?
3. GenZ- Adulting and Avoiding Promotions
4. The WeWork saga

But before we begin.

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Is your workspace not nearly as efficient as you'd like it to be?

2023 is almost over and the global office vacancy has never been higher at 16%. Fortune 500 companies are losing over $2 million dollars a month on underused and unused spaces.

The question is whether you want to be a part of that statistic.

Enter Adappt and cut costs, not corners!

Dear Mr. Murthy...

"Somehow our youth have the habit of taking not-so-desirable habits from the West, India's work productivity is one of the lowest in the world. Unless we improve our productivity, unless we reduce corruption in the government at some level, or unless we delay the bureaucracy in making decisions, we will not be able to compete against the top-performing countries. Our youngsters must say, this is my country and I want to work 70 hours a week and this is exactly what the Germans and Japanese did after the Second World War."

And With that N. R. Narayana Murthy put the whole employed youth of the nation into a verbal tirade against his arguments while a few CEOs coming in support of it.

I for one found the conversation very interesting and intriguing and I wanted to put my unbiased, factual, and relevant insights into what he said.

Let's break that down shall we?

1. India is one the least productive nations in the world

According to a recent article by The Economic Times , productivity in this context is measured as the revenue gained per employee per hour has gone up by 36% in the last 5 years even as staff cost as a total proportion of gained revenue has stagnated at 10%.

In simple terms, corporate India has made approx 4 rupees for every rupee spent.

2. Why is India's productivity not on par with other top-performing countries?

If you do a simple Google Image search you will see:

I don't know what Mr Murthy means by "the bad habits of the West" but I've worked with and for our partners in the West and I've seen 1st hand how relentlessly passionate they are about their work without the hierarchical subordination that our country subjects our workforce to. Please focus on the work and not the way it is done. Maybe that's the bad habit that corporate India needs to get rid of to create a sense of inclusion and passion within our youth.

Productivity may lag behind high-performing countries due to several reasons.

Yes, I agree with Mr. Murthy when he says the barriers and bureaucracy to progress must be diminished, (I don't know if they can be eradicated completely)

Poor infrastructure, Over-regulation, Capital constraints, Lack of highly trained workers, and Poor management are some of the prevalent reasons for our nation losing its way to becoming more productive.

But so is micro-managing, stagnant or low wages, and little to no incentives and recognition for achievements.

Comparing our work culture to that of the Chinese, Japanese, or Germans is not an accurate way of quantifying productivity because their struggles after the Second World War are incomparable to anything we have gone through in the last 100 years.

For instance, the drawbacks of working from 9 am to 9 pm for 6 days a week (the law of 996) are causing a lot of protests and agitation in China. Much of the work culture in Japan has caused a population collapse in Japan. For all their precision, accuracy concentration, and sternness at work, Germany is likely in a recession.

The moral of the story? Productivity isn't directly proportional to the number of hours you put in.

3. "Our youngsters must say this is my country.."

Yes, I don't doubt it, everyone who is born in India is an Indian. It's a given. But where I disagree with Mr Murthy is when he goes on to tie patriotism with corporatism.

A CEO like Elon Musk, Bhavish Aggarwal , or Marissa Mayer (former CEO of Yahoo) may boast about the hours they put into building their prestigious institutions into multi-billion or trillion-dollar companies, but the jarring difference between a CEO and a low-level or mid-level employee is that he may not share the same passion as they do.

Why is that?

• A CEO is in it for themselves. An employee is looking to work up, get recognized, and aspire to accomplish their career goals.
• A CEO is extremely driven partly because he wants to make an impact, and partly because they are working from a point of erudite experience and intuition to build their brand. An employee comes from a source of inexperience and they are looking to get an education in navigating corporate circumstances so their vigor and thinking may not align with that of his/her CEO.
• A CEO acts, thinks, and behaves from a position of power, responsibility, ostentatiousness, and some form of bias. An employee is working for and with the company to bring the vision of the CEO alive, and they are driven by positive reinforcement, monetary gain, and uplifting incentives.

These are just a few of the differences between a CEO and an employee, but the bottom line is that an employee will only be willing to push themselves when their CEO is equally aligned with them as they are with their vision.

The Bottom Line

So what is my personal take on all this?

This is not a criticism or chastisement of Mr Murthy or any CEO. Their struggles are what gave birth to millions of jobs, leaders, entrepreneurs, social changers, and philosophers among us. They gave us a million inspirational stories, and we humbly thank them for that, because we know it's not easy.

But...

We can't live in space-age times with stone-age minds. Change is the only constant.

In order to put out meaningful work you need to focus on what you put into it.

印孚瑟斯 has one of the largest attrition rates in the country a staggering 22% and some of the reviews point to the reason why a 70-hour work week can never get a positive response. This permeates into all big companies in India, not just Infosys.

Some of the most common concerns of existing and past employees in these institutions include:

"Very poor scope for learning"

"No share of voice or concerns for wellbeing"

"An abysmal amount of unproductive and repetitive tasks"

"The mindset of many managers is horrible"

"The culture is toxic and managers, and clients are often rude"

||And then we wonder why the youth of the nation scramble to leave this country once they hit 20||

So what should change?

• Focus on whether the work is done to the best of an employee's ability
• Focus on creating inclusion and a space where everyone's voice is heard
• Focus on providing an employee both senior and junior to learn and adapt to the skills needed for tomorrow constantly
• Focus on building employee's confidence and mental health so that they are loyal and give the best to the organization that they work for
• Focus on constructive criticism, giving employees real, measurable options to change their course of action
• Focus on increasing the monetary value of your employees, because everyone needs financial satisfaction to keep going strong
• Focus on continuous, and active feedback from employees and act on the feedback, don't keep it stored in a vault!

Here's a small mind map:

To end it on a positive note. I think Palki Sharma from Firstpost said it best

Science has a cheat code the only way to sustain working an incredibly High number of hours is by having fun. Sounds ironic I know but psychologically time is not the same for everyone yes same hours and same days each week but we experience time differently and when we have fun it passes by really fast like when hanging out with friends or working on a very interesting project time flies so the key to working a lot is having fun with.

Navigating the 'Adulting' Labyrinth: A Glimpse into the Challenges and Triumphs of Modern Milestones

Younger generations think achieving major milestones such as getting promoted at work or buying a home is much harder than it was for their parents.

A recent CNBC and Generation Lab survey has highlighted a compelling narrative: 55% of young adults view 'adulting' milestones like promotions and homeownership as steeper hills to climb than their parents faced.

Yet, this isn't just a story of struggles. It's about the 43% who remain steadfast in employer loyalty and the 40% eyeing innovative economic avenues outside conventional paths.

Read the complete article here .

I want to work from home: Sure! Let's see your DM's.

In a world where the lines between work and home blur, a Qualtrics survey reveals a new dimension of workplace dynamics. Employees working from home display a greater acceptance of employers monitoring their digital communications, underscoring a shift in the privacy-productivity paradigm.

We observe that flexibility in work location comes with nuanced perspectives on privacy. A significant 62% of home-based employees consent to broad communication monitoring if it leads to workplace improvements, compared to 49% of in-office workers

Yet, this opens up a broader conversation about workplace surveillance . With younger generations more open to such oversight, we stand at a crossroads: How do we balance the scales between insightful oversight and personal privacy?

The findings invite us to redefine boundaries and embrace a transparent dialogue on monitoring that respects individual privacy while fostering a productive work environment.

Read the whole article here.

We Don't Work

Once a towering figure in the startup ecosystem, WeWork's journey from a valuation of $47 billion to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing is a stark reminder of the volatility in the world of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Founded in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, WeWork tapped into the casualization of the workforce, embodying the spirit of community and culture in shared workspaces. This vision attracted a wealth of funding from heavyweight investors, positioning WeWork as a potential disruptor in the real estate sector, akin to the transformative effects of Facebook and Uber in their respective domains.

However, beneath the surface of this skyrocketing valuation was a foundation not as solid as it appeared. Despite substantial investments, WeWork's financial structure revealed a company with escalating expenses and no profit since its inception. The 2019 attempt to go public unveiled internal conflicts and questionable transactions, such as the leasing of buildings from entities owned by WeWork's own CEO, Adam Newman.

Newman's leadership style, marked by erratic decision-making and extravagant spending, further exacerbated investor concerns. The failed IPO and Newman's subsequent departure—alongside a golden parachute worth over $1 billion—left the company and its stakeholders in a precarious position.

Then came the pandemic, which struck a devastating blow to an already waning business model. The demand for office space plummeted, and WeWork found itself trapped, paying rents from a bygone era while struggling to retain tenants.

Today, WeWork's narrative serves as an insightful lesson on the importance of sustainable growth, transparent leadership, and the need for a business model resilient to market shifts. As WeWork navigates bankruptcy proceedings, the hope is to emerge leaner, more focused, and finally profitable.

This is more than a story of a company's rise and fall; it's a lesson on the gravity of responsible business practices and the perils of unchecked ambition.

Bottom Line

The concept is good. The execution is far from it.

So that's it for this edition of the Adappt Chronicle. We hope you gained some sort of value and insight from our take on how you can shape your workspace for the better, today.

Tune in next week when we look at what goes into creating a Unified workplace and some more interesting takes on pushing the barriers for a richer work experience for everyone.

Cheers!