HKDSE 2013 Paper 2 Q6.

please write about 400 words for the following question:

You are a human resources assistant. Your boss has observed that many people are
leaving the office very late. he has asked you to write an article for the company
newsletters describing the situation and discussing the negative effects. You have also
been asked to give two suggestions to improve the situation. Provide a suitable title for
your article.

Are You Working TOO HARD?

Hong Kong has long been a fierce competitive place for working given the fast pace of
working. Recently, it has been noted that there has been a trend of people staying
increasingly late at work. To make matters worse, a vast majority of people who are staying
late at work do not consider this: are you working TOO HARD? It is bizarre that generally
these people’s work efficiency may not be achieving as much as you think. Let us uncover
the reason for these and the consequence of staying late at work.

Lack of sufficient ‘down-time’ is damaging both towards your health and your working
efficiency. The reason for the majority of people staying late at work is that they want to be
done. Nevertheless, it has been scientifically proven that the longer the hours people work,
the less efficient their output. As we all know, humans should have appropriate stress that
we can appear to thrive. When we know that a certain amount of work must be completed
within a certain amount of time, we rise to the challenge and strive to achieve. In contrast,
the current practice of some workers – simply to work until the work is done – encourages
procrastination and inefficiency. Besides, failing to spend sufficient time relaxing has proven
to be detrimental to your health. Long working hours have been connected to overstress-
related conditions, such as high blood pressure and heart attack. Health is a prerequisite for
us, thus, don’t let it get to that point.

We have found the reason for workers being late at work. How can you change the
situation? One thing to try is to ensure that you are working. Work that is efficient in a short
period of time tends to get more done than work that is inefficient in a long period of time.
How can you get the efficient state? Try to take regular, short breaks; drink plenty of water
to stay hydrated and concentrated; set achievable, short-term targets in your work by taking
these small measures, you may find that the amount that you are able to achieve during
your contracted hours rockets, thus eradicating the perceived need to stay at work for so
long.

Nonetheless, no matter how efficiently you work, you may still feel overwhelmed by your
workload. If you have tried the above tricks, yet still feel that you cannot achieve your work
within your contracted hours, speak to your line manager, just say it. People can do
uncountable workload while not staying late at work is a vast minority. You should by no
means feel ashamed to admit that you cannot cope with your workload, your line manager
will be sympathetic. He will be able to suggest measures for more efficient work or put this
advice for you to reduce your workload as a final resort. Most importantly, it is simply not
necessary to work far beyond your contracted hours.

Overall, staying late at work is not only damaging towards your health, but also not much
help in getting the job done. This is no reason for making workers stay late at work rather
than making workers work efficiently. Therefore, we do not want the employees of this
esteemed company to create a damaging atmosphere, in which people feel under pressure
to stay at work longer than necessary. It is hoped that workers will reduce overtime in the
foreseeable future. Work hard, but not TOO hard!