Work life at senior positions
Hi all, I have noticed that the experienced senior people around me [ ICs, EMs, etc ] have too much work and they are always in a work mode.
Seeing them makes me wonder whether I would want to be like them in the future.
All the senior experienced people here, how stressful / hectic / difficult is your work life as you move up the corporate ladder?
Is it even worth it to chase meaningless numbers, and promotions, and grow up the career ladder?
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After long years of experience (20+ years) you reach senior levels where mutually-exclusive work-life balance doesn't work anymore, and you have to learn work-life integration.
At that point, for senior people, work and leisure become one and the same, and there's no difference between work time & free time, night or day. You are available for work tasks around the clock as needed, and learn to plan and enjoy your leisure activities in between and around work.
Let me give you a couple of examples:
Need to go for a foreign work trip around the time of your anniversary? Take your spouse on the trip with you, and celebrate the anniversary during the weekend abroad.
Want to check out a famous restaurant, and also meet a friend while on a work trip to another city? Schedule a lunch meeting with a client at that restaurant, and later meet your friend for a dinner in the lounge of the hotel where you're staying, in between your calls from your hotel room.
Want time for exercise and sports? Schedule a golf game with co-workers as a team-building exercise, or a one-to-one meeting with an important client over a golf game.
And etc. etc., hope you got the idea. So 24x7 work mode is not necessarily as dreary as it sounds 😄
Crazy balance. What will be your experience of how many are able to do this vs how many get overwhelmed and start lacking in one of the areas ( family, fitness)
I don't have the exact percentages or statistics, but the point is that organizations are pyramids, and there are fewer and fewer roles available in the job market as you rise higher and higher in the organization hierarchy, into positions of more and more responsibility.
People who are not able to manage their work and private life well together, to meet the demands of the role, simply stop growing in the hierarchy, and ultimately get pushed out and take early retirement, change careers, etc.
Or if they are lucky, some get stuck in a corner of some big organization that won't fire them, and ultimately retire in it at some mid-level role,
Depends upon the person some people enjoy such way of work.
Is it worth to do all this? If you ask about money then definitely no, euphoria of increased salary stays for sometime but then it dwindles down quickly
Same for promotion and career ladder but euphoria stays longer, work and accountability makes one work longer.
Also, Money might not buy one happiness but poverty will surely give one misery.
I’ve noticed this too and it scares me a little. My ex manager told me once that he tries to work as much as he is getting daily in terms of salary. If he doesn’t then it’s easy for company to replace him. Guess the job security makes it tougher ?
You have to understand that work is not "work" for a lot of people. They just like it, like you like going to a mall. This also becomes a key differentiator in outcome later on in lives.
There are people who want to do nothing but work and success is a byproduct. There are others who love success so much that they have to force themselves to work.
The problem is the need to have both success and work life balance, that eats corporates within. You want WLB, stop running behind success, you want success, stop aiming for WLB. If you are lucky enough to enjoy working (I am not, but know people who do), just work !
Is this only applicable for Indian companies or is it also the same at non-Indian roles/companies?
The 💰 you earn at that level would be worth it.