STAYING LATE TO DO OVERTIME WORK MAY NOT ALWAYS BE A GOOD IDEA When I first relocated to Kuala Lumpur 20 years ago, one thing I noticed most was my colleagues staying well past their scheduled working hours. Back in Kuching earlier, everyone in my office used to clock in at 9am and clock out at 6pm very faithfully. In between, we even got to drive home for lunch. In what seemed to be an ultra competitive working environment, logging a couple of hours of overtime was an example to be followed and something to be admired. I quickly got into the rhythm as well, and for many years, put in long hours 6 or 7 days a week. Working non stop can be a work ethic that's much praised by the bosses but of course it can take a toll on our physical health. I've learned to slow down in recent years, and have started to look at overtime work with some form of negativity. After all, it's not the quantity but the quality of our output that really matters. At this time of a prolonged pandemic, the issue of putting in extra hours doesn't arise, and actually doesn't accrue well for those whose monthly incomes are dependent on overtime work. My drivers & bodyguards told me they couldn't wait to be able to work late nights & weekends again as those were times when overtime pay rates were 1 1/2 times to 3 times of normal rates. Most companies however have policies that don't allow senior management to claim for overtime. In such cases, some people do it because they choose to, others because they have to due to projects swelling out of proportion or work backlogs. I believe most employees aren't thrilled by the idea of overtime, and probably for good reasons. It could be due to an overstretched workforce or poor time management. What I won't want in my companies is a toxic culture in which my employees think they've to be noticed to be staying late. The last thing we want is for overtime to be a cause of employee resentment and distrust that harms the level of productivity despite the extra working hours put inn.