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The World is flat, but

April 20th, 2009 · Comments

I enjoyed reading New York Times best-seller The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. But, I feel that Thomas Friedman painted an overly rosy and simplistic picture of globalization.

Let me tell you a true story.

I have a friend who works for one of the largest IT outsourcing companies in India. He is a few years out of college, young, smart, ambitious, and energetic. He is on a team that provides 24/7 technical operation support for a large Internet company in the United States.

He was supposed to come to the States late last year for an assignment. But, he couldn’t make it because he was hospitalized for 10 days. He has developed a very serious form of ulcer. Apparently, among his colleagues, almost everyone has some health related problems.

To support their US customers, my friend and his colleagues work in 3 shifts. They switch shifts every two weeks. When someone just gets used to the graveyard shift, he will be switched to the normal day shift. Their bodies are constantly adjusting to different schedule. I asked him why the company didn’t let them to work in one shift for a few month a time. He told me that each shift has different requirements, and the company wants to make sure everyone is able to support all shifts.

He said that many of his friends were very tired of their jobs, and wanted a way out.

Talking to him made me feel that we should never take anything for granted. Do you work normal business hours? Be appreciative; there are people who have to constantly change shifts.

I think there is an important point here: there is a human cost for supporting a flat world. While businesses are operating 24 by 7, there are human beings somewhere who are supporting the business.

If you work with outsourcing partners, please be kind and respectful for who they’re and what they do. They might have sacrificed a lot to support your business. 

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Tags: Frustration@Work · Work/Life Balance

Viewing 3 Comments

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    • v
    Not only just outsourcing partners, but also different units within the same global company for the same project/product. Many of my friends in China (and also myself) often have to work till very late in evening, or get up very early in morning to catch up conference calls with U.S. or Europe colleagues, and it happens almost every a few days or even every day.

    I appreciate your thoughts. We should always remember there are someone in another part of the earth working so hard to support your business.
    • ^
    • v
    Not only just outsourcing partners, but also different units within the same global company for the same project/product. Many of my friends in China (and also myself) often have to work till very late in evening, or get up very early in morning to catch up conference calls with U.S. or Europe colleagues, and it happens almost every a few days or even every day.

    I appreciate your thoughts. We should always remember there are someone in another part of the earth working so hard to support your business.
    • ^
    • v
    Try medical residency in America, which is the only way to become a medical doctor.
    There are no laws limiting work hours, but the accreditation body has created some rules. Violations are rarely reported as there is usually no whistleblower protections.
    There is a recent rule to limit a single shift to 30 hours. Some residents will do this every 3rd or 4th day for months at a time. Another rule requires at least 4 (or maybe 2) days off a month. A "day off" is defined as any span of 24 hours between shifts. You can end a 30 hour shift this afternoon and get back to work tomorrow afternoon; you just had a "day off." You cannot be made to work more than 80 hours in a week, but that's averaged over a month so residents are regularly scheduled for 100 hour weeks.
    Think about that next time you're in the hospital.
 

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