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Comment by yodsanklai | Hacker News Reader

Not sure I understand this advice. How to explain to my employer that I'm going to spend less time working because I have better things to do?

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If you feel that your employer knowing about outside passions is going to be a problem then you need to find another employer.

The same way you explain to your employer that you have defined working hours, and will be working within them.

Thank you. I was reprimanded once for essentially "only" being at the office for the defined time we agreed I would be there. I spent some time racking my brain until I decided I wasn't being unreasonable.

There is this hyaundai commercial ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ8Klm8vPlI ) that hits home for me. "When did leaving work on time become an act of courage". It's so true.

I've always found it humorous that the clock hits 6:00 rather than 5:00. "Leaving work on time is an act of courage, but let's not get crazy!" Presumably he courageously started at 10:00 or took an hour away from work for lunch.

It's more about the appearance of working vs actually having work to do. I used to come in at 7:30 and leave at 4:30 because my commute was terrible other wise (2 hours each way). The few nights I stayed until 6-7pm I noticed the engineers that came in at 10-11am were all gone by 5:30pm but to most managers it looked like they were "working harder" than me when I left at 4:30.

Where I worked, official hours are 8.30 to 6. In Asia of course.

Is the official work week 47.5 hours?

In the U.S., while I think it's true that people tend to work closer to 50 hours, we pay lip service to the "40 hour work week".

Unreasonable employers happen. You have a variety of options including try to convince them to be reasonable, accede to their demands, try to be sneakier, or find a new job.

In our industry where it tends to be an option for us, "find a new job" might make sense.

I think his advice was for people who are so excited about their work that they cannot stop thinking about it on even Saturday evenings.

Don't let people decide if your other things are actually "better things to do", certainly not a boss, they're hardly objective. Simply state that like work, they are obligations you can't miss. I frequently have artistic obligations in the evening, and I make sure everyone knows they are unbreakable.

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