What holiday?

I spent Monday working as I have a discussion with a biomedical professor at Universiti Putra Malaysia. He just came back from a conference in Hyderabad, and he had actually forgotten that Monday was a public holiday.

When he messaged me about meeting up on Monday, I agreed as I didn't have anything on that day. It was only moments before our scheduled meeting that the professor realised that it was a public holiday, and asked whether I wanted to reschedule. Since he was already in his office and I was already in the vicinity of the university, I said that I didn't have any problems to proceed with the meeting.

In any case, one of my staff found out that I was working on a public holiday. And the immediate response from the staff was, "I'm glad I'm not the boss. At least I have my days off."

I realise that it is somewhat true that the so-called "bosses" work regardless of weekends or public holidays. One of my colleagues who head a project management team, was at the office yesterday (Sunday). The executive chairman meanwhile would be at the office until about 9 or 10 at night.

I don't think that it's workaholism. Rather, it's a sense of responsibility to ensure that the organisation is well that we have to give it our all, public holidays or not.