One of the much hyped IT trends has been the ‘flexible work-hour-system’. No one cares what you do in the office as long as you complete your work within deadlines. Sounds pretty good in theory. However, in reality this exposes most software professionals to a work schedule which is practically not fixed. A practical implication of this is that most such professionals do not have a certain routine and they often find themselves doing only one thing – work.
The unscheduled lifestyle often takes its toll on health. And no one seems to notice this until much later when most people find themselves taking blood pressure pills. Here’s where AnyLinuxWork stands out. We have been following a fixed work schedule for many months now. And it has proved to be pretty successful so far.
Our objective is to ensure that our team members lead a stress-free life. We want them to have a positive personal life too. At the same time, professionally, it is so important to be able to learn time management in a way that you are able to have time for every priority. Thus, our team members hit work at dot 9 am every day and leave it at 7.30 pm. That way they learn to manage their time well while in the office and get to spend time back home too.
ALW has always believed in having its own ideas and work methodologies. And this system is one such idea that has struck a chord with our developers. People at ALW are more focused towards time now and are learning to manage their priorities well.
Posts Tagged ‘Human resource’
Creating new IT trends
Saturday, March 10th, 2012See, I told ya!
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011Hello from the HR desk. Hope you missed us. This month we are so excited to share with you an interesting research conducted by the Stanford University on management practices. We definitely have a reason to brag now. But before that, lets find out what it was.
The said research has measured an increased productivity rate in a company if it adopted good management practices. The research found out that the core set of practices increases the profit and productivity in an organization. During the study, the researchers compared textile industries which adopted few ‘best’ practices to those which didn’t adopt the same. There was an improvement in productivity by 10 percent within a few months of adoption.
And what were these practices? Yeap, almost the same as we do at AnyLinuxWork. Things like incentives based on the performance, clear job assignments and preventive maintenance were also encouraged in an organization. The research even suggested little things like observing, recording and meeting. Ofcourse there can never be a comparison between a textile company and a software company, yet, the principles of good management are quite cosmopolitan and pretty much the same. The practices adopted by the ALW management are well thought-out and properly implemented.
First of all, our team really understands and truly values time. We have encouraged them to smartly work their way up to their targets instead of sitting for late hours or taking work at home. We follow the five-day work module so that everyone gets to have a good time with family and friends. And so an average ALW employee is excited to come back to work on Mondays and that too with a fresh mind and loads of energy.
Secondly, we believe in encouraging our team members to improve quality of their life. We conduct personal grooming sessions from time to time, invite their family members to attend office functions and parties and encourage them towards cultural or creative activities.
Thirdly, our monthly ‘Meri Fitness’ adventures evoke the sports side of our team. We go for trekking, picnics, swing resorts etc so as to make our team keep fit and healthy. In addition, there are desk top exercises being practiced right at the work place apart from educating them on Yoga Asans and other health tips.
And the latest in the list is our Hi5 initiative that deliberately and consciously ensures that our employees are stress-free and they enjoy their work. The Hi5 team keeps organizing fun events at work place to create a friendly and warm environment.
Only last year, we shared with you our several management practices. And now the research seems to only ‘authenticate’ them. Yet, we were the first to know. Yay!
Making time management a reality
Thursday, August 5th, 2010Those working on the Web World know for sure that time management is a myth, considering that over the web, an hour is almost equal to one minute. Alas, all they have is 24 hours out of which only 9-12 hours allotted for work.
Most of AnyLinuxWork employees too often have a hundred chores running through their heads. He or she has to constantly multi-task the work. Stress is the order of the day and there’s a constant pressure of keeping up with the deadlines.
So how does an average AnyLinuxWork employee balance time? Well, not so easily but intelligently. No cubicle of AnyLinuxWork is ever found with a stack of files or papers or too many diaries. That’s because each employee is taught to manage his tasks not only mentally but also physically. Here’s how:
Avoid Reckless Multitasking: Employees at AnyLinuxWork do not indulge in multi-tasking unless it is truly fruitful. They always keep in mind that multi-tasking without planning may affect the quality of their work. Abhishek Shrivastav, a team member, commutes from Ujjain every day, thus, he is left with no option but to race against time. He shares, “I always time my work so that I am able to finish my assignments by 7.30 pm. If I am before time, I help my colleagues so that we are collectively able to deliver on time. I use my traveling hours (four hours) for reviewing the day’s working and planning the next day’s schedule.”
First things first: Prioritizing comes only when you think about important tasks beforehand. It cannot come spontaneously. Thus, IO employees usually prioritize a Wednesday’s task on a Tuesday evening. This saves time. Says Ashish Zarkar, “I start my day with collecting all my work for the day. Whatever communication I have with the client, I save it in a word file and my daily report simultaneously. I usually pen down all my doubts first before discussing them together with seniors.”
Organize the To-do list: This is what Chetan does on a daily basis. As soon as he reaches office, he takes 10 minutes only to jot down things-to-do during the day. “It feels a different joy altogether when the list keeps reducing with each passing minute as I tick mark the task as ‘done’. Obviously, the top-priority tasks receive the tick sooner than others.” Since he is able to finish all his daily tasks by 7.30 pm, he never misses his gym at 8.30.
Check email on a schedule: If you’ve broken up your tasks into actions, then it’s easy to find the time to read email in between completed actions. Follow the rules: if you can get rid of the email in under 2 minutes, do it. Shares Dilip Prajapat, “I begin my day by checking emails and planning the day accordingly. After lunch I usually chat with clients and schedule any extra work if any. I keep my schedule flexible enough to shift things in case of exigency.”
Keep cross-checking handy: Another IO member Jyoti Rohom has learnt to keep her reference material handy so she saves time in searching it later. She says, “When I get assignment, I first study the related topic, then start coding keeping in mind the deadlines. During my free time at home, I study the reference book. This helps me being ready beforehand.”
This easily explains why AnyLinuxWork is able to meet all its deadlines despite a strict nine-hour work policy. Everyone seems to have adapted to making the best of the allotted time.
School of Leadership
Thursday, July 1st, 2010Leaders, some say, are born and not made. However, yet another school of thought keeps fighting off this idea and so we have some real good B-Schools across the country. Most good leaders won’t be able to teach you leadership. That’s simply because more than flaunting leadership, they have practiced it.
Leaders at AnyLinuxWork have one thing in common- they are accessible to everyone. You can walk in to them with ideas, thoughts, doubts, complaints and clues anytime. IO leadership believes in encouraging people to discover their individual goals for their lives. This, in turn, widens the landscape of work at IO adding ever newer dimensions to work culture and work quality.
At Office Space today, lets explore some very interesting qualities of the leaders at AnyLinuxWork. And yes many of these, you will realize, are cultivable.
Effervescence: Leaders at AnyLinuxWork are full of life and have a knack for infusing their energy into others. They are people who have the ability to light up the environment around. All they need is a good joke to start a meeting or just entering a board room with a real good ‘Hello everyone!’.
Amour-propre: This is French for ‘self-love’. IO leaders, however, love work ethics and stick to them. They love the brand IO that they have created and developed over the years. This love translates into their efficiency in traveling any distance to making the brand successful.
Integrity: Jack Welch- the man behind initiatives like Six Sigma quality, e-business and former CEO of General Electric- has more than once proved that you cannot lead unless you have integrity. In his autobiography, Welch shares: “I stuck to some pretty basic ideas that worked for me, integrity being the biggest one.”
At AnyLinuxWork, integrity is almost synonymous to leadership. Our employees get inspired to work with integrity because they have seen our leaders do the same. Our leaders have always been people of strong values and honesty. It is thus no surprise that we see the same values being transferred down to the other levels of leadership. .
Organized life: Infosys Founder Narayan Murthy cautions- ‘workoholism’ must not be aped. A few months ago, IO leaders had shared affinity with this idea and had inspired the rest of the team. As a result, most employees have now cultivated a habit of working smart instead of working more. Our leaders lead a life that emphasizes the importance of inter-personal relationships. They are equally committed to their personal lives. Thus they encourage their subordinates in their personal achievements as well. They have successfully created such an environment at our office that each individual focuses on having a good life and not just professional success. In addition, it is our policy to be mindful of the health and personal life of the employees. Joint celebrations, fitness initiatives, recreation facilities etc are some of the most practical things we do at IO to ensure that each one leads a healthy and happy life.
Complimenting: How easy and handy it comes to point out mistakes. A heart of appreciation, ironically, doesn’t come so easy. However, the art of complimenting is something that is an integral part of the IO work culture. Nothing tastes better than a compliment right out of the horse’s mouth. Apart from an organized system of encouragement through ‘Employee of the Month Award’, IO leaders never miss out on showering words of appreciation to team members even in the smallest of achievements.
Self-domain: Most people keep waiting for ‘the big opportunity’ for exercising their leadership skills. This is definitely a mistake. A good leader leads a team of two as energetically as he does a team of 20. What really matters in leadership is not the size but the spirit of leading. Effective leaders love their domain of work and transmit this feeling in others around them.
We have tried to inculcate this habit of leadership in each employee by making him or her accountable for the work assigned. IO leaders give each member enough freedom to logically take decisions on their respective assignments. As a result, each team member never feels insufficient to deliver his or her best.
These are a few more visible qualities of our leaders apart from many personal qualities that they have like a good character, sportsman’s spirit and a generous heart. The good news is IO provides ample opportunities for cultivating these qualities and practice leadership right from where one is placed. If this can happen at IO, it can happen anywhere. There may be a great leader sleeping inside you. It’s time to wake him up.