A few months ago, my boss and I had lunch together. We were talking about some people at work, kids, family and all kind of nonsense. We ended up having conversation about common perception in the workplace that people don’t really talk about (Disclaimer: none of these points apply to me personally).
Stick with 8 to 5 or 8:30 to 5:30 schedule
If you come in at 7 and leave at 4, you are considered a slacker even though you work 8 hours a day (exclude 1 hour lunch), because you leave before everybody else does. If you come in at 9 and leave at 6, you are considered even a bigger slacker because no one was around to make sure that you actually leave at 6. Sounds fair? Probably not. The thing you need to understand is, unless you work in shifts, normal business hours run from 8 to 5:30. I do get emails at 5 pm or have a meeting at 4 pm from time to time, and people don’t normally bring you issues at seven o’clock in the morning. It’s just how the business works whether you like it or not. My boss mentioned to me that sometimes he gets frustrated when an issue comes up at 4:30 pm and half of his team is gone, thus couldn’t get an answer he needs.
When taking a break, socializing is “healthier” than smoking or browse Internet.
Taking a break is important to ease your mind. However, it’s better if you visit your peers and chat over anything, football, kids, food, or even work related. What my boss said to me was socializing is healthy. You might be complaining about your current project or assignment while socializing and a solution might come up during a conversation. There are numerous times when I complain about my project and my friend might say, “You know what, you might want to try such and such method to make your query runs faster”. Problem solved. So for those of you who thinks what’s the point of working longer hours if all they do is chit chatting, you might want to re-think your point of view.
Earning more than what your pay range should be is great, but it can also bite you in the future.
I’ve seen a lot of people are having trouble looking for another job internally or externally just because they make more than they should. It is unfair because it means you are penalized from being a good negotiator, but life isn’t fair!
Communication is the key to advance your career.
You can be the smartest kid on the block or work crazy hours, but if you’re shy away from social interaction, unfriendly, or unlikeable, you are not going anywhere.
Male earns more than females for the same position.
This is actually not a secret. Why does male earn more than female? Because female in general tend to prioritize family over career once motherhood starts to kick in. Again, it’s not fair. But try to put yourself in your boss’ shoes. Wouldn’t you prefer male workers over females?
