Leaders, ask yourselves: Are you needlessly overloading your staff?

Making an organisation succeed is not about pushing employees harder but about eliminating pointless demands on their time.

- Teo Yik Ying

Mr Elon Musk's recent moves with the Department of Government Efficiency have reignited debates on leadership, workplace culture, and the balance between efficiency and employee well-being.

His aggressive pursuit of operational streamlining—marked by drastic cost-cutting measures and widespread job cuts—has been framed as an effort to drive efficiency.

To me, the question is whether Mr Musk has fundamentally misunderstood what it is that makes an organisation truly effective.

You may be able to trim some costs by reducing headcount, but will that make an organisation deliver better results?

In fact, the move may backfire if efficiency is pursued without regard for human cost, which could risk eroding the very foundation of a productive and engaged workforce.

As someone working in public health, I also serve on several workplace committees focusing on employee health and well-being. It is clear to me that employee welfare can fundamentally determine the success of an organisation.

And yet, many leaders think that they can make their organisations more effective if they push their employees harder, even if this comes at the expense of their health and well-being.

This only promotes a toxic workplace culture, and needlessly so.

Much of the extra work that is heaped on employees comes because the leaders have not thought through their work processes.

Some of it is a result of poor planning. And, in some cases, it is the best workers who end up getting saddled with the most work, so they get punished for being good instead of being rewarded for it.

It is these issues that leaders should think about if they want their organisations to succeed, instead of mindlessly pursuing efficiency and cost-cutting.

UNHEALTHY TRENDS AT WORKPLACES

One of the most troubling trends in workplaces today is the sheer volume of meetings that consume working hours.