We all live in an era of CTCs, fast moving salaries, benefits, etc, etc...
We live in an era of late nights, night outs, unpaid overtime...
Which then brings upon a question of how much are you really earning for the work you do?
Before embarking upon deciphering this, let us define a criterium upon which we shall measure what we are getting. I like to call this criterium Rupees per Hour and for those less fortunate to not be living in India we shall call it Money per Hour. But for the rest of this post you'll see it as rupees per hour, so please do all the conversions to whatever feels good for you, implicitly. :-)
Ok, so now lets take a look at a scenario. There were 2 guys with the same background and work experience who were working in different companies. One guy was earning Rs.35K per month and the other guy was earning Rs.50K per month.
The minute you look at this scenario you're thinking, ok cool, one guy is earning 50K. Sounds cool! Well lets go a little deeper into this.
Mr 35K was working just 40hrs a week while Mr 50K was working 60hrs a week. Some quick calculating will reveal that in a month, Mr 35K was earning Rs.218 per hr while Mr 50K was earning Rs.208 per hr. Surprise, surprise, a guy earning more per month is actually earning less per hour? Maybe you're not that surprised and you're probably thinking that hey its just Rs.10 an hour. But is it really that?
There is only a Rs.10 difference on an hourly basis but every week Mr 35K is gaining 20 hours per week over Mr 50K. Let us suppose that Mr 35K is an average player on the stock market and is capable of spending his 20 extra hours each week to make Rs.5K per week. That means that Mr 35K is now earning another 20K per month. Add that to his salary and he's earning Rs.55K. But wait that's more than Mr 50K! Now how did that happen?!
Obviously making Rs.5K per week on the stock exchange is maybe being a little ambitious... On the other hand someone may say that they'd make much more than that! The point is that Mr 35K has generated something that can potentially be worth a lot more than the extra 15K in terms of salary. He's earned 20 hours of extra time which invested could potentially earn you a lot monetarily.
I'm not going to go into sermons about how free time can lead to better balance in life and things, because I'm basically trying to convince guys who are ready to work long hours to earn more money. My advice is then, spend your time more fruitfully. :) There's a lot you can do to earn more money than slog it out.
I'm reminded of a story here about a person who works in a particular company. He was a workaholic to say the least and was on one of those "critical", "its gotta be delivered" kinda projects and he was under a lot of pressure to complete within in the month. In order to meet the deadlines he was working late nights and weekends much to the distaste of his family who would sometimes accompany him to work on a Sunday. Well the project got over but his family was really pissed off and made him take them on a vacation to a hill station which cost the guy around Rs.21K. He came back after a 2 week vacation and was joking that this project had cost him Rs.21K.
Well the question here is, did it really cost him just Rs.21K? Lets assume that him being a senior engineer in his team was earning Rs.100K per month and was supposed to work 40hrs a week. Now with his schedule he was working 80hrs a week. That's double of what he was being paid to work. Which basically meant that he was getting only half his salary if you talk of rupees per hour. So in the end he ended up gifting the company Rs.50K. So now what did the project cost him? It cost him Rs. 71K!
In our quest to do better, to earn more money, we're often found trying to meet unrealistic commitments either made by us or made by others. What is important to realise is whether its really worth it. That's not to say that working long hours will not get you anywhere. I mean sure at the end of the day, putting in long hours does make you more available which is going to lead to career growth in one form or another. But, if you're talking about money, I think you seriously need to re-evaluate your rupees per hour and ask yourself,
"How much am I really earning?"
We live in an era of late nights, night outs, unpaid overtime...
Which then brings upon a question of how much are you really earning for the work you do?
Before embarking upon deciphering this, let us define a criterium upon which we shall measure what we are getting. I like to call this criterium Rupees per Hour and for those less fortunate to not be living in India we shall call it Money per Hour. But for the rest of this post you'll see it as rupees per hour, so please do all the conversions to whatever feels good for you, implicitly. :-)
Ok, so now lets take a look at a scenario. There were 2 guys with the same background and work experience who were working in different companies. One guy was earning Rs.35K per month and the other guy was earning Rs.50K per month.
The minute you look at this scenario you're thinking, ok cool, one guy is earning 50K. Sounds cool! Well lets go a little deeper into this.
Mr 35K was working just 40hrs a week while Mr 50K was working 60hrs a week. Some quick calculating will reveal that in a month, Mr 35K was earning Rs.218 per hr while Mr 50K was earning Rs.208 per hr. Surprise, surprise, a guy earning more per month is actually earning less per hour? Maybe you're not that surprised and you're probably thinking that hey its just Rs.10 an hour. But is it really that?
There is only a Rs.10 difference on an hourly basis but every week Mr 35K is gaining 20 hours per week over Mr 50K. Let us suppose that Mr 35K is an average player on the stock market and is capable of spending his 20 extra hours each week to make Rs.5K per week. That means that Mr 35K is now earning another 20K per month. Add that to his salary and he's earning Rs.55K. But wait that's more than Mr 50K! Now how did that happen?!
Obviously making Rs.5K per week on the stock exchange is maybe being a little ambitious... On the other hand someone may say that they'd make much more than that! The point is that Mr 35K has generated something that can potentially be worth a lot more than the extra 15K in terms of salary. He's earned 20 hours of extra time which invested could potentially earn you a lot monetarily.
I'm not going to go into sermons about how free time can lead to better balance in life and things, because I'm basically trying to convince guys who are ready to work long hours to earn more money. My advice is then, spend your time more fruitfully. :) There's a lot you can do to earn more money than slog it out.
I'm reminded of a story here about a person who works in a particular company. He was a workaholic to say the least and was on one of those "critical", "its gotta be delivered" kinda projects and he was under a lot of pressure to complete within in the month. In order to meet the deadlines he was working late nights and weekends much to the distaste of his family who would sometimes accompany him to work on a Sunday. Well the project got over but his family was really pissed off and made him take them on a vacation to a hill station which cost the guy around Rs.21K. He came back after a 2 week vacation and was joking that this project had cost him Rs.21K.
Well the question here is, did it really cost him just Rs.21K? Lets assume that him being a senior engineer in his team was earning Rs.100K per month and was supposed to work 40hrs a week. Now with his schedule he was working 80hrs a week. That's double of what he was being paid to work. Which basically meant that he was getting only half his salary if you talk of rupees per hour. So in the end he ended up gifting the company Rs.50K. So now what did the project cost him? It cost him Rs. 71K!
In our quest to do better, to earn more money, we're often found trying to meet unrealistic commitments either made by us or made by others. What is important to realise is whether its really worth it. That's not to say that working long hours will not get you anywhere. I mean sure at the end of the day, putting in long hours does make you more available which is going to lead to career growth in one form or another. But, if you're talking about money, I think you seriously need to re-evaluate your rupees per hour and ask yourself,
"How much am I really earning?"
