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40-Hour Work Week
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    If you’re lucky enough to have a job right now, you’re probably doing everything possible to hold onto it. If the boss asks you to work 50 hours, you work 55. If she asks for 60, you give up weeknights and Saturdays, and work 65.

    Odds are that you’ve been doing this for months, if not years, probably at the expense of your family life, your exercise routine, your diet, your stress levels, and your sanity. You’re burned out, tired, achy, and utterly forgotten by your spouse, kids and dog. But you push on anyway, because everybody knows that working crazy hours is what it takes to prove that you’re “passionate” and “productive” and “a team player” — the kind of person who might just have a chance to survive the next round of layoffs. This is what work looks like now. It’s been this way for so long that most American workers don’t realize that for most of the 20th century, the broad consensus among American business leaders was that working people more than 40 hours a week was stupid, wasteful, dangerous, and expensive — and the most telling sign of dangerously incompetent management to boot. It’s a heresy now (good luck convincing your boss of what I’m about to say), but every hour you work over 40 hours a week is making you less effective and productive over both the short and the long haul.

    Read the rest at http://www.alternet.org/visions/154518/why_we_have_to_go_back_to_a_40-hour_work_week_to_keep_our_sanity?page=entire

  • 12 Replies sorted by
  • EbachervilleEbacherville

    I agree. However I'm lucky enough to love what I do and for me it is a life style.. I go to work and work on video/multimedia , I come home and once the kids and wife are in bed I do more video work and research. My work life melds with my personal life and my employer loves it because its free "R&D" for them.. and I love it because its what I like doing and everything i do on my time helps my work life.. Sadly, many are not so fortunate. Some of the best advice I have ever gotten was "Find work you enjoy, it will make it feel less like work.".. don't get me wrong I work 80+ hours a week during heavy workload times, on the road living out of a suit case, and I have to work with people I dislike more often than I like to. But I enjoy what I do, and that makes even the unbearable.... bearable. "Find work you enjoy, it will make it feel less like work."

  • GOODEMPIREGOODEMPIRE

    @Ebacherville Wasn't there even a short period of time when you hated what you were doing? I remember I couldn't even look at my gear after 3 consecutive days of shooting.

  • 4CardsMan4CardsMan

    At my last real job, a high-pressure professional position, my peers put in 55-60 hours per week, and I did the same job in 35-40. When the time came to pass out recognition trinkets, I never got any, and I had no prospects for career advancement. But I had analyzed exactly what needed to be done and how to do it in the shortest time possible. Management does not like your having control of your own life, but as long as you deliver the goods, they will tolerate it and eventually learn to appreciate it.

  • EbachervilleEbacherville

    @goodempire Yes at time is sucks major big time.. In In house AV for a medium sized company.. I have more disk space than the IT department has in the S.A.N. at work.. (used to be IT for the same company) It does suck, especially on those 80 hour weeks and I make nothing extra because I'm salaried..

    However I do work for a good company and they are flexible.. they know I put in major hours and flex with that.. I agree it sucks at times. TOTALLY. but then again.. the worst part of my job is the lack of understanding why a "flip cam" or cell phone will make video that looks like crap, and why I'm asking for a a few thousand bucks for new cameras when I got 2 new cameras cameras 2 yeas ago.. that's the part I hate..... on top of that, then try convincing the bean counters I'm going to buy a couple new cameras, for $800 each, void the warranty, and buy some used 20 year old lenses on eBay..

    However, It is getting pretty easy now .. I've shown off some GH2 hacked footage that I've actually taken in our building and peoples jaws dropped to the floor.. Have a meeting with a few Presidents and VPs to show where they could be if they invest a few grand into new cameras and equipment and some hacking..

    It is the drug dealer trick, show them what they could have, then take it away.. I do it often to get new equipment or resources I feel are necessarily to do my job best :-) Resources are my biggest hurtle.. and that's the way I have found to over come it.. show them , make them want it , then take it away. And then once they want it .. don't back down on what you need. However don't be wasteful.. don't abuse is.. get what you need. Same would go if you were running your own production business.. get what you need to pull off the job, not what you wish you could have.

  • pdluminapdlumina

    hourly guy. is very simple: make a career out of one of your hobbies.

  • bitcrusherbitcrusher

    @pdlumina

    So true. I can't believe that anyone would work for a company any more. There are about 2.2 billion internet users right now by the end of the decade that number will double. If your are into something find a way to sell it because there is a market for it, you might not get rich but its a hell of a lot better then working for someone. Seriously it is so easy to make a living online....... as long as you live in a place with affordable health care that is.

  • bostonmikebostonmike

    I'm in the medical field. I get four days off in a row every other week. Perfect for planning shoots. I have a very low stress job, I love it.

  • liquidifyliquidify

    @bitcrusher Affordable health care is eating good quality food, exercising properly, saving some serious cash / commodities for emergency , and making sure you aren't doing anything stupid.

    If something crazy happens under those conditions, bite the bullet and pay the shit off. Usually when you have no insurance, hospitals and doctors will be willing to make cash deals with you at a incredibly reduced rate compared to insurance, or even write your costs off depending on the hospital. If not, you can make deals to pay the hospital monthly without interest rates.

    As an example, I have been sending a doctor 25 bucks a month for the last 3 years paying of surgery which came when some dudes jacked my wallet at a party and broke my jaw in the process. After some write offs/ deals made, I settled some bills with cash and paying off the rest all said and done for 10 grand (12 grand less than original bills). I am fine with these conditions because it allows me to save / invest more of the money I have and thus I have ended up making far more money than I would have saved from insurance paying for this crap.

    The most important thing you can do is invest in good food. Organic, natural food and good exercise will keep you out of the doctors office for a long time.

  • RamboRambo

    I was an Nationally ranked paddler for over 20 years and was successful internationally as well. I quit competitive padding and now put that knowledge to good use following the world circuit shooting and producing event videos. Only thing that changed was i swapped the paddle for a camera and a seat on the back of a Jetski. Many hours editing but i love the creativity and challenge of being the entire crew and pulling off a shoot with one camera (plus a few onboard POV's). Great lifestyle, not getting rich though. Have never worked for a boss eva, and never will.

    So yeah, make your passion your job and you will never work a day in your life.

  • svartsvart

    I've tried doing passions in place of work. Eventually I started to feel my passion drain as I no longer felt like I was having fun.

    Luckily my current employer is pretty open to work hours and such. I've been working various hours for a long time now. Sometimes I work 12 hour days, sometimes I leave early and play golf or something. The work always gets done so I never hear that I have to work overtime. In fact, my employer complains when we don't take our vacation days because it's a liability against the books.

    Either way, I've worked for companies that command people to work harder and longer, but usually it's the fault of the company or manager rather than the employee.

  • RamboRambo

    The only time passion and work don't mix is at Xmas work parties:-)

  • DrDaveDrDave

    I hear you. I work seven days a week, usually 10-10 with regular breaks. I would seriously consider a job in France with a reasonable work week, health benefits, and all that amazing wine & armagnac. But then my camera would stop working after 30 minutes.

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