Don't You Go Working to Hard There Buddy!
A friend IM'd me this afternoon to tell me he was leaving his company.
"Hallelujah for you!" I thought.
It was about time. After being over-looked at his current position and working under a jerk for a while in the past year, this friend totally deserves to move on to better and brighter things. And his new job sounds great! Best part... He'll be able to work from home a lot. And he is overdue on having a better work-life balance.
Which leads me to an article I read on Boston.com this afternoon about employees who work too hard at their jobs. I know first hand about this issue, as I used to do it myself. So did a bunch of people I worked with at the time.
It happens all the time, especially at large firms... Everyone works long hours because that is what gets "charged" into the atmosphere at those places. And then when you don't work the long hours, you get the "you're not committed to the team" speech.
And I will admit, it's a very hard cycle to break out of... I burned myself out and got out of it. But the truth is I could have been less the self-absorbed "martyr" and done it sooner. But what happens is when you start working these long hours (because you are made to feel that is how it has to be), you start to base your career self esteem on it. And that is just foolish.
So don't do that people. As the article says, ultimately, your place of employment is NOT going to appreciate you or give you your full due just because you are working long hours. So why bother?
If people make you feel guilty, just tell them about all the fantastic things you do in your personal time. (Belly dancing, book clubbing, wine classes, made out with an International male super model...) They'll get jealous. But they can't fire you for working 40 hour work weeks.
Bottom line: Long hours are not an acceptable long-term plan. Short-term, perfectly fine. But more than two months? Find a new job... Like my friend.
"Hallelujah for you!" I thought.
It was about time. After being over-looked at his current position and working under a jerk for a while in the past year, this friend totally deserves to move on to better and brighter things. And his new job sounds great! Best part... He'll be able to work from home a lot. And he is overdue on having a better work-life balance.
Which leads me to an article I read on Boston.com this afternoon about employees who work too hard at their jobs. I know first hand about this issue, as I used to do it myself. So did a bunch of people I worked with at the time.
It happens all the time, especially at large firms... Everyone works long hours because that is what gets "charged" into the atmosphere at those places. And then when you don't work the long hours, you get the "you're not committed to the team" speech.
And I will admit, it's a very hard cycle to break out of... I burned myself out and got out of it. But the truth is I could have been less the self-absorbed "martyr" and done it sooner. But what happens is when you start working these long hours (because you are made to feel that is how it has to be), you start to base your career self esteem on it. And that is just foolish.
So don't do that people. As the article says, ultimately, your place of employment is NOT going to appreciate you or give you your full due just because you are working long hours. So why bother?
If people make you feel guilty, just tell them about all the fantastic things you do in your personal time. (Belly dancing, book clubbing, wine classes, made out with an International male super model...) They'll get jealous. But they can't fire you for working 40 hour work weeks.
Bottom line: Long hours are not an acceptable long-term plan. Short-term, perfectly fine. But more than two months? Find a new job... Like my friend.
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