Overworked - Is it time for a change in our society?

[Catmando]

Are you overworked?

Do you feel that in general, people work too many hours?

What can be done about it?

I'd like to know your thoughts on this subject.

[Trumpetmaster]

Overworked...

YES....

I am usually in the office between 5:30AM - 6:00AM EST
and leave at 4:00PM to 6:00PM EST on any given day.

That's the unfortunate fate in middle management.....

I keep playing lotto and do alot of praying!


Seriously... it is a huge problem with burnout....

My recent 2 week vacation was wonderful but I came
back to work and NONE of my efforts were looked at.....

I had 1800 emails waiting to be read..... etc....

the words run lean and mean over here are true....

There is a high turnover rate as most people cannot keep this pace.

[analog]

I'm retired, and nearly indolent by my previous standards. Still dealing with guilt over inactivity.

But I offer my thoughts, since you asked:
We are Madison-Avenued to death, continually programmed to "want" stuff, achievement, recognition.... it's spilt over into everyday life, becoming the norm.

Workaholism is an attempt to fill a void just like compulsive shopping or drinking. I tried all three.

There's a whole industry built around exploiting the void. We spend as much on advertising as we do the military. You'd think society could get better psychological return on those dollars than encouraging escapism.

What could be done? Perhaps put Henry Thoreau and Edgar Lee Masters back in the high school curriculum.

Henry Thoreau, Walden : If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen...

Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950). Spoon River Anthology. 1916.


[Masters put Cooney Potter and Fiddler Jones on facing pages - coincidence?]


59. Cooney Potter

I INHERITED forty acres from my Father
And, by working my wife, my two sons and two daughters
From dawn to dusk, I acquired
A thousand acres. But not content,
Wishing to own two thousand acres, 5
I bustled through the years with axe and plow,
Toiling, denying myself, my wife, my sons, my daughters.
Squire Higbee wrongs me to say
That I died from smoking Red Eagle cigars.
Eating hot pie and gulping coffee 10
During the scorching hours of harvest time
Brought me here ere I had reached my sixtieth year.


60. Fiddler Jones

THE EARTH keeps some vibration going
There in your heart, and that is you.
And if the people find you can fiddle,
Why, fiddle you must, for all your life.
What do you see, a harvest of clover? 5
Or a meadow to walk through to the river?
The wind’s in the corn; you rub your hands
For beeves hereafter ready for market;
Or else you hear the rustle of skirts
Like the girls when dancing at Little Grove. 10
To Cooney Potter a pillar of dust
Or whirling leaves meant ruinous drouth;
They looked to me like Red-Head Sammy
Stepping it off, to “Toor-a-Loor.”
How could I till my forty acres 15
Not to speak of getting more,
With a medley of horns, bassoons and piccolos
Stirred in my brain by crows and robins
And the creak of a wind-mill—only these?
And I never started to plow in my life 20
That some one did not stop in the road
And take me away to a dance or picnic.
I ended up with forty acres;
I ended up with a broken fiddle—
And a broken laugh, and a thousand memories, 25
And not a single regret.

More recently Simon & Garfunkle beseeched us, "Slow down, you move too fast..."

[jamiebk]

Americans work themselves to death! (literally, sometimes). Our work ethic and productivity are very high and I'll bet the most people feel guilty just taking a vacation. This is not good.

I recently applied (internally) for a very high-level job over what I have been doing for the company. I spent days trying to figure out: A. whether I had enough "umph" to do the job, B. Whether I really wanted to put that much into a job at this point in my life, C. How the hell I would balance my personal life, and D. Whether my wife and family would ever see me again. The job went to another. However, the interviews went extremely well and I ended up with a raise and promise of some new (better) job responsibilities. This was a win/win, if I ever saw one.

Nonetheless, when I leave town on a "vacation" I am still on the corporate leash via email, and of course, cell phone. There is no one to back me up and I usually come back to all the work that accumulated over a week's time. This is why I have started taking vacation in foreign countries and backpacking trips to the high Sierras...no phone...no computer. And guess what? I STILL think about work. Retirement for me will be welcome and I am working hard to make that day come as soon as possible. If money is too thin after I retire, I will opt for stacking cans at Home Depot...or anything other than a job whose responsibilities stick like flypaper when I should be relaxing at home.

[Trumpetmaster]

Jamie,

I still have 3 weeks left after taking 2 consecutive weeks off.

The reason I don't want to take vacation is when I return
nothing was done to "Bridge the Gap" and it takes at least
a week to filter through all the crap and get everything back
in order.

Ugh....

TM

[Haggis@wk]

If money is too thin after I retire, I will opt for stacking cans at Home Depot...or anything other than a job whose responsibilities stick like flypaper when I should be relaxing at home.

That's exactly what I did last year when I quit UPS. I was looking at a level of stress caused by mandatory 50 weeks (unvoiced implication was that 55-60 would be better) travel three weeks a month (my area spanned from El Paso to southern Virginia to Puerto Rico) and mandatory 3 nights of work each week.

Granted, my retirement from the military gave me some options that many people won’t have but regardless, going from a (very) low six-figure income to a low-middle five-figure income can be stress inducing by itself.

Nevertheless, I didn’t want the QDBFH to be a widow. She would have (WILL) get up to enough mischief when I gone as it is.

My “Home Depot” job is a private investigator contractor conducting cargo crime investigation.

I’m happy, my blood pressure (almost) doesn’t need chemical assistance and while 40 hour weeks are possible they are only possible with my willing participation.

The only drawback is that I spend too much time on the B Board when I should be writing reports. So I need to cut this short…….

[Catmando]

I would love to see a day where one works (full time) at their job 4 days a week, 5 hours a day.

I've made a conscious decision over the last few years to work very little overtime. The vast majority of the time, I'm in at 6:45AM and leave at 2:45PM. There are times at 1/4 end and Year End that I realize I have to (or may have to) work some extra time, but only when absolutely necessary.

The sad part is when I leave the office at 2:45PM, after having put in a full day of work, you get the odd comment by people who think they're funny, or they look at their watch and say "Leaving already?" or "Ooh, must be nice!"

I know I've sacrificed some future promotion opportunities, but I've never wanting to become what my manager has become. I look at her "life" and think it is sad. Very sad.

[Trumpetmaster]

I would love to see a day where one works (full time) at their job 4 days a week, 5 hours a day.

I've made a conscious decision over the last few years to work very little overtime. The vast majority of the time, I'm in at 6:45AM and leave at 2:45PM. There are times at 1/4 end and Year End that I realize I have to (or may have to) work some extra time, but only when absolutely necessary.

The sad part is when I leave the office at 2:45PM, after having put in a full day of work, you get the odd comment by people who think they're funny, or they look at their watch and say "Leaving already?" or "Ooh, must be nice!"

I know I've sacrificed some future promotion opportunities, but I've never wanting to become what my manager has become. I look at her "life" and think it is sad. Very sad.

Cat,

When I leave a bit early sometimes... I get the line...
Oh, Bankers Hours....

I want to cram my Klingon Warrior boots right up where
the sun does not shine as I am already working at
full steam when most of these jokers are just rolling over
hitting the snooze alarm....

TM

[Catmando]

Cat,

When I leave a bit early sometimes... I get the line...
Oh, Bankers Hours....TM

Ooh!!! Can't stand that line!

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

:snicker: You guys are too nice. You're missing opportunities to mock the witless wonders around you.

"Bankers' Hours" remarks are well rewarded with "You betcha!" or "Damn straight!"

"Must be nice" gets a "Yes. Yes, it is."

"Leaving already?" is answered "Yup. Buh-bye."

It's fun to spin 'em up and leave 'em steaming. And you can get away with it for decades, if you're better than they are. And you get to have a life, too! It's a sad fact that many of the mediocre drudges need to criticize the folk around them because it's the only way they can get personal snark points. Don't play the game, and don't pay attention to those who do.

I have doubts about that 20 hour week, though. Sounds like a French plot to infiltrate Canada...

[Trumpetmaster]

Selma,

I like what you just posted!
I will try to remember to use this.....

Thanks!
TM

[jamiebk]

I work from home (telecommute) on Fridays because of traffic and the fact that I spend 2-1/2 hours a day commuting M-Th.

I am sure, to many in the office, this is viewed as a "day off" for me. (I assure you it is not). Most everyone has gotten used to my "4 day work week" (which it is not) but on occassion I will get a comment from some uninformed twit to the effect of, "Wow...I wish I could only work four days a week" Of course I have to correct them. We usually get into a discussion about how nice a 4 day work week would be. I tell them that I don't favor a four day work week because then I'd have to work more hours than I already am...it takes a moment, but they eventually see the humor.

[Catmando]

I'd love to have a job like HRH who works 4 hours a day from 8AM to Noon ET.

Just kidding, Nicole

[barfle]

One issue I see happening more and more is commute time. It takes me about an hour from door to desk, and about an hour 15 from desk to door. I have a schedule that gives me every other Friday off, but that means 9 hour days M-Th and 8 hours on the alternate Fridays. So that's over 11 hours a day spent dedicated to something other than my life.

I hear about people with far worse commute issues than I have. At least someone else is doing the driving for me, so I can read or people-watch or nap.

If you're a major employer, you want to be in the middle of things, but property values there are remarkably high, so most of your labor force can't afford to live nearby. If you decide to move the company to the suburbs, you will lose many of your employees who will have an even longer commute and don't want to give up their neighborhoods. If you decide to locate in a rural community, you will scare off those who are leery of a company town.

When I lived in California, I was usually pretty lucky in finding an employer close enough to my home that my commute was on the order of 20-40 minutes (although exceptions certainly existed). Even after almost six years of this, I'm not all that pleased by how short my evenings are (or how useless I am the next day when I stretch my evenings out).

[Catmando]

"Must be nice" gets a "Yes. Yes, it is."

"Leaving already?" is answered "Yup. Buh-bye."

Potential response:

Yes, it is nice. Once you improve your work efficiency, have less pointless meetings chowing down on another catered lunch, you'll see how nice it is to leave work at the time you're supposed to.

[jamiebk]

Cat....I like it...I like it!!

[Catmando]

The theme is MORE

I need to work MORE so I can:

Buy MORE vehicles,
Buy MORE furniture,
make MORE money,
take MORE courses,
have MORE stress,
eat MORE food (restaurant portion sizes are HUGE!)
Buy MORE Classical Music CD's

[BigJon@Work]

I'm also on a every other Fri. off, 2 hours of commuting a day schedule with my new job. I am converting all of my electronic devices to mobile and severly curtailing many other forms of eletronic entainement, read internet surfing, so my children will grow up knowing what my face looks like. I'm really looking forward to long weekends every other week though!

I'm not on the eletronic tether on my off hours yet, but it will be coming as I grow into my job.

I'm also committed to doing one major activity with the boys every weekend. This weekend its kite building.

[Catmando]

Here's an interesting article I saw on the internet.

The Overworked American

[Trumpetmaster]

Very interesting.....