ON THE JOB SPECIAL ..................Multi-tasking: A modern approach

Multi-tasking: A modern approach





While multi-tasking is a norm today , employees need to learn to prioritise their assignments and work accordingly

All our student life was spent with teachers and parents suggesting the benefits of focusing on one thing at a time.Enter the working life and the dynamics suddenly change. All of a sudden, we are expected to be multitasking and juggling several responsibilities at the workplace at the same time. From making presentations for that meeting, to answering the calls and responding to the e-mails, the list of tasks one is supposed to accomplish is endless. In such times, a question often strikes the mind ­ is it better to focus on one thing at a time or should one rather focus on multi-tasking?
Rachna Mukherjee, CHRO, Schneider Electric India says, “In today's busy work schedules, juggling responsibilities is inevitable, but it is extremely important to focus on one thing at a given time. You need to prioritise well and work accordingly . Even the organisations need to facilitate their employees. As they expect their employees to be juggling several things at a time, it is important that the employees are given facilities like flexible work hours and workfrom-home options for being able to have a better work-life balance.“

With increasing competition at the workplace and a growing focus on the need to conclude tasks in a shorter period of time, the art of multi-tasking becomes extremely important and puts an individual at an advantage of being a big asset to any organisation. Talking about how multi-tasking can be rightly done at the workplace, VP Mahendru, chairman, EON Electric, avers, “The basic objective of multi-tasking is to maintain a high level of productivity without letting the company incur too much cost and time on that particular task. However, the key to multi-tasking in the right way is to never lose focus and pay attention to detail. The base for any established task is to first prioritise according to the deadline and evaluate the time it would take to finish the task.“

Multi-tasking has become even more important with the rise in the number of start-ups which require their employees to take care of more than one profile, and for such profiles, it is quintessential that your mind should be able to multi-process information and give an output which is correct. Talking about the same, Vinti Doshi, CEO and co-founder, AUTonCAB, asserts, “While working in such organisations, there are times when more things are needed to be done than seem humanly possible. In such cases, one simply has to multi-task.Also, to be on the top of things, one must stretch beyond one's area of expertise to have a comprehensive view of the business.“

Steve Correa, EVP & head human resources, United Spirits Ltd, seconds this opinion when he says that the modern workplace has become extremely dynamic and complex. “In such a scenario, employees often face situations where they are working on multiple things at a time. Employees are increasingly faced with multiple responsibilities working with teams and stakeholders across geographies. Nonetheless, multitasking has become an integral part of our professional life and one needs to learn to take care of several tasks at one go.“

While it can be inferred that multi-tasking has become a norm, what needs to be learnt is that the employees should focus on one task only once they begin its execution. Even while multi-tasking, concentration on the task at hand can not only ensure a better output, but can also make us ready for other tasks with vigour and preparedness like never before.

Kamini Kulshreshtha

TOI 13JAN16