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Arshad couldn’t forget the humiliation he had to suffer because of Naina. Nobody had done that to him ever before. By quoting chapter and verse from those illogical e-mails exchanged between them, she had proved Arshad to be unreasonable and even sadistic in front of the management.
She was the one who had thus gained an upper hand. She said no to so many deadlines set by him and re-negotiated fresh ones, the ones that suited her better. No matter what he tried, she could always come up with powerful logical arguments to support her own way of working.
Arshad was crying revenge. Five years of hard work had got him to that position of a Senior Associate in Singhania & Co. He remembered that he too had unreasonable bosses when he was a junior. But he had never opposed them. He worked longer than they expected. He sacrificed his family life and physical well-being but never said no to his bosses. However, he never got the kind of subordinates he wished for. The kind who were like him. His subordinates never cowed down to his demands and never batted an eyelid before spreading all kinds of unsavoury rumours against him. It wasn’t just fair.
Arshad walked up to the cabin of Mr. Bhavesh Anand, Managing Partner of Singhania & Co and knocked. A voice came from the inside asking him to come in. Arshad entered and was waved into a seat.
“Ah Arshad as you know the appraisal process is going on. I know Naina is a part of your team; so I would like to gather your feedback on her performance,” said Mr. Anand in his clipped Oxfordian accent.
“Well I don’t know how to begin, Sir. The last time we talked about this issue, I was asked to lay off and be reasonable in my demands. But now things have really gone too far,” Arshad grumbled.
“Really? What’s the matter?” asked Anand.
“She has become bolder. Now whenever I set a deadline, she argues with me that it does not suit her, that it will affect adversely her ‘social life’ and so I better adjust to her demands. As a result I have to work harder to meet client deadlines, piling on more work than I can handle without help, while she has a nice work-life balance. We all started from the junior most ranks and have taken all such hard work in our strides. Now tell me Sir how often have you told your bosses that you needed a work-life balance when there be a deadline to be met?” asked Arshad.
“Not even once. I could never dare tell my bosses anything like that. That’s not how it works in corporate law,” agreed Anand.
“That’s exactly my point. In our sector, clients do often impose unreasonable deadlines on us and we have to do our best to meet those demands. There are no ifs and buts,” said Arshad.
“You are right. You are expected to work longer hours here. If you don’t like it, go do something else which has a fixed, 9-5 kind of working hours like, maybe a BPO or a call centre outfit,” nodded Anand.
“I constantly work till 3 A.M. in the morning and Sir have I ever complained? But I do deserve better assistance from my subordinates. I know the firm is suddenly trying to be very humane and sensitive to the needs of its employees. So you plan retreats and motivational talks and social outings, but I find that all such employee-friendly initiatives are only making junior lawyers not very disciplined. They argue back and always throw the ‘work-life balance’ issue to your face as if it had come from some Holy Book. Now tell me Sir, how we can function like this?” said Arshad.
Mr. Bhavesh Anand paused. He was thinking about what Arshad had just said.
“Hmm... I see your point. I too never dared talk about the work-life balance when I was a junior. I worked hard to rise to the top. And I still work late sometimes till 6 in the morning because that is what suits our international clients. I can imagine what it would be like to be told by your subordinates that they need some time-off when deadlines are to be attended to,” said Anand.
Arshad nodded.
“You are right. The more we talk about work-life balance and a humane working environment, the more indisciplined our work force will become. And in the end work will suffer,” said Anand.
“Thank you so much for your feedback. You have given me a lot to think about,” Anand shook hands with Arshad and Arshad left with a satisfying smirk creasing his lips.
