GMAT Essays (AWA)

Companies benefit when they discourage employees from working exra hours or taking work home. when employees spend their leisure time without producing something for the job, they will be more focused and effective when they return to work.

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above.


The statement that companies will benefit when they discourage employees from working extra hours or taking work home due to the fact that the employee will be more focused and effecitive when they return to work is a contoversial issue. many people believe discouraging employees to work more than the usuall 8 hour work day would benefit the firm by maximizing the employee's overall productivity and decreasing his potential fatigue. These people ignore the fact that intervention in employee's affair might have more negative impacts on their performance and eventually on the well being of the company. After thouthfull analysis of the issue, i disagree with the author's statement.

Though it is true that discoraging employees to work more than 8 hours a day would decrease the potential fatigue and maximizes the employees productivity levels for the next business day, many employees in this age prefer having flexible hours and ability to choose their working hours rather than having the more traditional work hour schedule, starting from 8 am in the morning and ending 5 pm in the afternoon. Giving the employee the power to schedule his own work hours would definately improve his performance and motivation. for instance , Sony's R&D headquarters in Japan and Zerox's R&D facility in U.S are two examples of successfull organizations which have contributed their success to the level of freedom and flexiblity given to employees.

Another major reason why i disagree with this position is that , eventhough in the old days, majority of companies had various levels in their structure and many policies and regulations , today's efficient and successfull companies have flat structures and as little number of regulations and policies as possible. in such and environment , which team work is encouraged employees are more productive and more successfull in achieving the organization's strategic goals.

In conclusion, I believe in this age , organizations with flatter managerial structures and less regulations have the advantage over other organizations. These characteristics encourage and motivate employees to perform their duties as efficiently as possible, hence benefitting the company.