Sometimes, we tend to work too hard, but not too smart.
i used to have a colleague who had time for morning break reading papers. he finished his job on time usually, at most giving in an hour of extra time to complete his work.
He had a fair boss who gave the same workload to everyone. many of his colleagues go home after 9pm daily. They were given marketing projects and many were tough nuts involving many hours in front of the screen, number crunching, planning and coordination.
Guess why this young chap finish on time, every-time and need not even come back on weekends?
He does not gossip at work. He does not go online chat, sms, etc etc like all of his "hardworking" colleagues would. In fact, he ate his own lunch and ignore the rest pretty much. He had been tagged as unsociable, gay, selfish, non team-playing. But his boss admitted to me that this guy is the most efficient employee he had ever hired. Even by adding loads onto his pile, he could still finished at 5pm, plug in his ipod and walked out the door confidently.
Its all about productivity honestly. The ones who stay behind sometimes wasted too much time with office chats and personal agendas that they end up going home at 11pm. They party and sleep at 5am in the morning, and there goes bad productivity when they come back to work with droopy eyes, telling the world how they enjoyed life and how tired they are to face another long day at work.
So, Singaporeans, if there is a culture involving long unproductive hours at work, maybe its time to do a quick check to see where Mr Minutes and Hours can be saved by shaping up time management.
Besides, you get a life outside and can enjoy your hobbies and true friends more.