are you peer- pressurised to OT at work?

Do you have colleagues who are almost “married” to their job? The one who lives, breathes and thinks about work ALL the time. The one who texts you after working hours to “do this and that ASAP” or expects an instant reply. The one who is the first to get in office, and always the last to leave. If yes, congrats - your colleagues (or you, perhaps) are workaholics 😭

I’ve had my fair share of experience working with workaholic colleagues, especially in e-commerce or chinese companies known for their “996” culture.

And when you have workaholic colleagues, they’ll also expect the same from you - back in my intern days, leaving on the dot was called the “walk of shame” because everyone will stare at you leaving 🫣 and I’ve also fallen to the influence of workaholism because I felt bad to leave early while my colleagues were chiong-ing their work, and ended up asking if they needed help 🥺

But over the years, I’ve learnt to deal with workaholism, and in this day and age where we feel the need to “prove our worth” amidst the slew of layoffs, hopefully this will be helpful to someone out there!

👉🏻 LONGER HOURS =/= PRODUCTIVITY

I think we need to clear this up, that working longer hours DOES NOT equate to work efficiency. And in fact, when you have longer hours to complete a task, the more it might result in greater inefficiency. Our measure of success is not by the hours, but by the quality of work - being good at our job doesn’t mean showing our boss that we are still in office at 9PM, but by producing results.

👉🏻 AVOID GLORIFYING OT

“wow, you worked so hard” - if you find yourself complimenting your workaholic colleagues for staying up all night to finish their tasks, stop right there 🔴✋🏻 Avoid affirming your colleagues when their work is a result of OT-ing, because that will only enable their workaholic mentality! Instead, when you can produce quality work without overworking, this positive role modelling will help them change their mindset and start prioritising themselves over work!

👉🏻 SET BOUNDARIES

For me, work-life balance has to be intentional. To avoid overworking, one thing that works for me is to intentionally make plans after work! It could be grabbing a meal with your friends, catching a movie, going for karaoke, drinks, whatever - block out your after work hours, and that will give you a reason to feel less pressurised to help your colleagues out, just because you are free. I think it’s great that some companies also provide their employees a separate work phone, so they can disconnect from work during the weekends! Basically, set boundaries by clearing your emails on Mondays instead of the weekends, and switching off your work chat notifications after Fridays!

Hope this is helpful to you, if you feel peer-pressurised to OT at work - do let me know if you have any other tips too! Remember to prioritise yourself over work, work is not your identity and you don’t have to play the perfect game!

Jiayous! 💪🏻