Corporate silos 1 can create subtle yet far-reaching problems within large organisations. Often, these departments act with the best intentions, addressing internal problems swiftly and decisively.
However, the insular nature of their approach can inadvertently harm the broader organisation.
Typically, influential departments like Finance, Procurement, or HR may identify an issue they consider critical. Driven by urgency, they set out to resolve it promptly. While they might make a cursory effort to seek feedback from other departments, this feedback is often viewed through a narrow, departmental lens. Because the feedback deals with external concerns, it is frequently misunderstood, undervalued, or dismissed outright.
As a result, these departments implement changes to processes, policies, or procedures, believing they have effectively addressed their issues. Unfortunately, they rarely realise the negative ripple effects their actions can have elsewhere. The cumulative consequences can be severe, ranging from decreased productivity and widespread frustration to a noticeable slowdown in overall business operations.
Ultimately, siloed thinking undermines the very corporation these departments aim to serve. Yet, because their perspective remains internal and insular, they seldom recognise the broader impact of their decisions. It’s the rest of the organisation that bears the brunt of these unintended consequences.
If you find yourself leading a powerful, influential department, take the time to fully consider the broader implications of your actions. Addressing your internal challenges should not come at the expense of organisational health. Remember, the decisions you make today can either uplift or inadvertently burden hundreds of your colleagues tomorrow.
which are departments or areas operating in isolated, self-contained mental bubbles [↩]
We all have limits, a certain number of hours in a week that we can devote to intense work or other high-effort activities. This “effort threshold” differs from person to person, but understanding your own threshold is crucial for maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
Why Know Your Limits?
By figuring out how many productive hours you can reliably sustain each week, you can plan your schedule, both work and leisure, without burning out. This concept applies holistically across your entire life, not just your job. For instance, if you love sports or have a demanding hobby, those hours count toward your overall “effort load.”
Personal Effort Threshold
To show you what I mean, here are my own effort levels which I have discovered through a somewhat obsessive level of record-keeping over the years:
Consistent Level: 77 hours of effort per week
This is the amount of time I can devote to various tasks week after week, month after month, without feeling overwhelmed be they Work, Sports, Hobbies or Housework.
Surge Level: 85 hours per week
For one to three months, I can sustain a slightly higher workload.
Sprint Level: 100+ hours per week
This is the maximum effort I can push for about two to three weeks before I need to scale back.
Because I keep detailed logs of my time, mainly for client work and personal accountability, I’ve been able to pinpoint exactly what these levels are for me. Everyone’s threshold will be different, but knowing your own is a game changer for work and life in general.
How to Find Your Effort Threshold
Track Your Time
Keep a detailed record of how you spend your hours for at least a few weeks. Use a journal, a spreadsheet, or a time-tracking app, whatever feels most natural. Identify Patterns
Look for when you feel most productive and when you start to feel drained. Pay attention to both work and personal commitments (like hobbies, exercise, social events).
Set Realistic Boundaries
Once you identify a comfortable range of hours for each week, adjust your schedule accordingly. This might involve saying “no” to certain commitments or scaling back to ensure you don’t exceed your personal limit.
Account for Variety
Remember that a hobby or exercise might still demand energy, even if it’s a mental break from your job. Factor this in when tallying your total effort hours each week.
Adapting to Your Own Limits
It’s normal to underestimate or overestimate how much you can do. Often, we think we can keep sprinting forever, until we can’t. Recognise when you’re in a “surge” period versus a “sprint” period, and when it’s best to stick to your consistent level to avoid exhaustion.
Some of these adjustments can be tough. You may have to let go of certain tasks or delegate more. But ultimately, prioritising your health and well-being is the best long-term strategy.
The Bottom Line
If you ever find yourself exhausted and out of time, it could be that you’ve simply exceeded your personal effort threshold. The key to maintaining work-life balance is knowing how many hours you truly have to “spend” each week, and then consciously choosing how to allocate them.
Put another way: Work out how many effort hours you have, and fit your life within those hours. Doing so will help you stay productive, fulfilled, and far less prone to exhaustion .
One thing guaranteed to upset your project manager is uncertainty. It’s not the duration of a task that creates anxiety, it’s the lack of clarity around that duration. Whether you’re coding, fixing an issue, or designing something, managers become anxious when they’re left guessing about progress.
Managers usually aren’t overly concerned with how long a task will take, unless there’s a firm deadline looming. Instead, their stress stems from uncertainty and ambiguity. 1
The solution to uncertainty? define timelines as much as you can, break down tasks if the manager cant understand the complexity of the task or to highlight bottlenecks in the time to completion , and communicate openly about progress and obstacles.
By providing details and clear updates, even if the timeline is lengthy, you significantly reduce their stress and, in turn, cut down on constant check-ins and nitpicking.
Remember, clarity is your friend. Keep your project manager informed, and you’ll keep them off your back.
if you do have one that constantly challenges the time estimated to complete a task by a subject matter expert, then you have a whole different problem that probably comes from someone else underestimating the task publicly. [↩]
It’s a question many of us ask, yet the answer often lies in those unwritten rules that shape each company’s culture. While official contracts outline set hours, say, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., the real workday can vary widely depending on where you are in the world, your boss’s expectations, the company’s culture, and your own career ambitions. Below is a breakdown of the common “types” of workdays you might encounter in European and American big company life, moving from the bare minimum to the maximum.
1. The Basic Workday
This is the minimum you’re paid for, and what’s stated in your contract or employee handbook e.g., 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with a one-hour lunch.
Reality Check: If you consistently work just these hours, some employers or clients may raise an eyebrow, even if you’re meeting all your deliverables. In many corporate environments, merely doing the “bare minimum” can be perceived as lacking initiative or commitment.
2. The Standard Workday
The standard workday typically involves a slight extension of the basic hours, such as:
Starting 15 minutes earlier (e.g., 8:45 a.m.) and leaving 15 minutes later (5:15 p.m.).
Shortening your lunch break from an hour to 30 minutes so you effectively put in about 8.5 hours of work.
This small, daily “extra” is common and generally goes unnoticed because it feels like a modest show of good faith. While it won’t necessarily make you stand out, it does help avoid the stigma that can come with working the strict minimum.
3. The Professional Workday
A professional workday often means adding about one extra hour of work beyond the basic schedule:
Working through your lunch, or Arriving at 8:30 a.m. and leaving at 5:30 p.m.
Over a week, that extra hour each day becomes five additional hours, enough to signal that you’re serious about your role and willing to go the extra mile. Many people aiming for growth or wanting to show dedication adopt this schedule because it helps build a strong professional reputation without sacrificing all personal time.
4. The Corporate Workday
This is the 10-hour shift (often 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.) that many managers, team leads, or people pushing for promotions stick to. By consistently putting in two additional hours each day, you:
Ensure nobody questions your commitment.
Demonstrate a willingness to invest more time than the average employee.
5. Going Beyond 10 Hours
Above 10 hours per day, there should be a clear reason, like a major project deadline, a personal career goal, or substantial compensation. Consistently logging 12-hour days for an 8-hour salary may suggest someone is taking advantage of you, so it’s worth evaluating why you’re investing so much extra time.
If you find yourself regularly working 12 hours or more are you doing it for:
Promotion Pursuit: Perhaps you’re aiming for a promotion or to prove you’re indispensable.
Financial Incentive: You’re being paid for the extra hours, making it worth your while.
Personal Choice: Some people genuinely thrive on their work, but remember to consider long-term mental health and work-life balance.
If none of these apply, it might be time to set boundaries. Consistent overwork without a clear benefit can lead to burnout.
6. The “High-Level Professional” Workday
Once you rise to a certain pay grade or responsibility level, think senior management or specialized contractors, the 10-hour day often becomes the new baseline. Because of:
Responsibility Overload: At higher levels, tasks are more complex, and you’re expected to juggle more.
Meeting Overlaps: Coordinating with multiple time zones can stretch your day.
Buffer Time: Those two extra hours can act as a buffer, offering flexibility. If you occasionally leave early or take a longer lunch, you’ve already banked extra hours.
Formally, many companies will still say “8 hours plus lunch,” but in practice, 10 hours is the norm at this level. It’s an unspoken agreement that you work more but also gain flexibility when you need personal or creative breaks.
Learning Your Company’s Unofficial Hours
Every corporation has its own “unofficial” hours shaped by:
Global Collaboration: Working with teams in Europe, America, or APAC can shift start/end times.
Leadership Norms: Some bosses expect you in before they arrive and won’t be happy if you leave before they do.
Local Culture: Certain regions place a premium on face time, while others care more about output.
It’s crucial to observe and adapt to your company’s nuances. Ask colleagues, pay attention to when emails start flying in, and see when most people arrive or leave. That’s often more telling than the official handbook.
Final Thoughts
“How long is a workday?” depends on more than your contract, it’s also about unwritten cultural norms. Understanding these tiers, from the Basic Workday to the High-Level Professional standard, can help you navigate expectations, protect your boundaries, and make informed decisions about how you allocate your time. Ultimately, remember that your time is valuable. If you’re consistently going beyond what you’re paid for, make sure it’s for a purpose that benefits both your career and your personal well-being.
There’s a persistent phenomenon I’ve observed across nearly every corporate client I’ve ever worked with, which is particularly noticeable within IT and technical support teams, and it revolves around retaining genuine high performers, or “rock stars.”
Strangely enough, even with effective management, continuous challenges, and engaging work, these exceptional talents rarely stay in permanent positions for long, which in turn wrecks a lot of multi-year IT plans.
But why should businesses care about losing these top performers? Primarily, it’s because organisational stability often hinges disproportionately on a few highly capable individuals who deeply understand core systems and processes. When these essential people leave, the disruption is severe, and companies frequently experience significant operational setbacks, particularly if they are doing something that will put them ahead in the marketplace.
The standard corporate solution to this problem usually involves complete documentation and process redundancy, aiming for systems so simplified that nearly anyone can operate them. While this strategy ensures stability, it unfortunately also results in inflexible and overly simplified systems. Users find themselves boxed into rigid frameworks that stifle innovation and adaptation. It’s essentially designing processes for the lowest common denominator, which might reduce risk but certainly doesn’t encourage excellence.
In contrast, smaller companies and startups tend to thrive because they foster teams composed entirely of high achievers. Such teams collaborate naturally, continually push boundaries, and build genuinely impressive solutions. These environments fuel continuous innovation and engagement.
So why can’t large corporations replicate this environment? In my view, one critical factor holding back corporate IT teams is HR’s reliance on the bell curve for performance evaluations. Designed to distribute evaluations fairly, this method inherently restricts recognition and rewards for genuine excellence. Teams are generally forced into predefined categories: a small group at the bottom requiring improvement, a broad middle performing adequately, and only a select few “exceeding expectations.”
What happens when a team naturally has more high achievers than the model allows? HR policies typically prevent recognising all deserving individuals, thereby inadvertently penalising genuinely talented employees. Over time, this practice inevitably breeds resentment among those repeatedly overlooked, making them easy targets for recruiters and competitors who promise fairer recognition and rewards.
I’ve even seen corporations unofficially adopt a “rotational excellence” system, where recognition and rewards cycle through team members regardless of actual performance. While superficially fair, this approach only fosters cynicism, demotivating the people really performing
Admittedly, addressing this issue isn’t straightforward. Simply allowing unlimited “exceeds expectations” ratings would undoubtedly lead to inflationary evaluations across departments. Yet, maintaining the status quo clearly undermines team morale, retention, and long-term organisational growth.
Currently, it seems only startups and community-driven projects successfully maintain groups of high achievers for extended periods. Corporations 1, however, have yet to discover a sustainable solution.
While I don’t have an immediate remedy, I’m eager to explore how corporations might better nurture and retain exceptional teams without fueling internal resentment or compromising fairness. How can large organisations sustainably reward genuine excellence without falling victim to the limitations of rigid HR models?
This challenge is a little devil, especially in IT, where the difference between retaining or losing top talent can dramatically influence organisational success.
