Harmony at Work

“Mere 7% of corporate Bangalore happy at work” reported DNA today. The article reads:

A whopping 93% of corporate Bangalore is unhappy at work, with employees showing moderate to strong signs discontent.

This has been revealed by a health risk assessment study, ‘HealthTrac’, done by PeopleHealth, a Bangalore-headquartered health management organisation. The study was conducted among 2,106 employees of 7 leading IT companies from the city, of which 85% were in the age-group of 25-35 years.

A general reaction from the employees was that they felt the pinch when they had to work with uncooperative colleagues or managers. (our emphasis)

The CEO of PeopleHealth, G. Krishnamurthy, added that the unhappiness was due to “long hours of traveling, hostile work atmosphere, and almost zero social interaction.”

This discontent is surely not limited to Bangalore, or even India. It is disturbing that so many people should be suffering at the office. What to do? It may not be easy simply to change jobs in today’s market, especially in the US, for example.

Swami Kriyananda gives these suggestions to employees seeking more harmony at work with their colleagues:

1. Never try to give the impression that you are “in” with the boss in ways that others are not. Your co-workers will accept you better if you never try to “pull rank” on them.
2. If you disagree with the boss in anything, never voice the fact generally. If you do speak of your disagreement to a few friends, let it be outside of office hours, on your own time.
3. Try never to compete with your co-workers. Allow each his “place in the sun.” Try, rather, to win by merit, and never by attempting to show up anyone or by displaying yourself as better than others. It is true that one may sometimes win by scheming. To do so will, however, make you fail in other ways, eventually. The truer you are to the truth itself, the more likely you will be to attract the success you need and deserve.
4. Be kind to your fellow workers. Help them whenever they need it, and when the opportunity presents itself. If you act thus, they will respond to you in kind. A pleasant atmosphere in the workplace will bring blessings to everyone there.
5. Go out of your way to show an interest in your co-workers, in their lives, in their problems. Do everything you can to offset a spirit of competitiveness, if it exists, even if it is encouraged from above. If that atmosphere exists, it may even be wiser for you to seek employment elsewhere. For when such a spirit emanates downward from above, there may be nothing you can do about it—though it might be a fascinating challenge for you to try!
6. Never share information with others that you’ve been given in confidence. On the other hand, remember always the scriptural dictum: “If a duty conflicts with a higher duty, it ceases to be a duty.” If the confidential information concerns a harm that is being plotted against anyone, don’t feel in this case that your lips are sealed by the word you gave. To do so would be to compound one mistake with another, even greater!
7. Make a point to look consciously for good qualities in your co-workers. In disagreements, try to see also their point of view. When you win a point, never beat them down by saying, “I told you so!” Give them a graceful way out.
8. Greet your fellow workers in a friendly manner at the beginning of each day. At the day’s end, again, wish them well. Little courtesies like these do much to keep the machinery of our relationships running smoothly.
9. Keep to yourself any sad mood you feel. It isn’t fair to dump your private worries onto others, like a bucket of cold water.
10. Politeness is something people often reserve for strangers or for people they meet seldom. It will help to keep the “machinery” of your daily relationships running smoothly if you are polite and considerate also to those you work with daily.
11. The patterns of speech you use toward your co-workers can have an uplifting or a depressing effect on the entire work force. Be clean-minded, courteous, and never coarse. Be just as much so in your relaxed speech.
12. During the humorous banter that naturally occurs among co-workers, laugh with them kindly. Never laugh at them.

(Excerpted from Swami Kriyananda’s Being a Successful Employee, Lesson 16 of Success and Happiness through Yoga Principles)

            What are these?

Tags: anger, calm, harmony, negative emotions, office politics, stress, techniques

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 9:10 pm and is filed under productivity, success course, techniques. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.