Hacker News Reader

Comment by rhubarbcustard | Hacker News Reader

"This fast-paced always-on life style blends our home-life and our work-life together. We can no longer leave the office and are always just a text or phone call away."

I've read quite a few articles recently about this blurring of office and home life and people being "on" all the time, has this really become normal for most people? It was "go home on time day" the other week, have things really got so bad that people need a special day just to get home and see their family?

I get paid to work 35 hours a week, I work those and then I'm not at work and unavailable unless I've agreed to paid overtime. I assumed most people worked like this too?

View on HN

The problem is in some countries (US, in my case) performance is often evaluated by hours spent outside your assigned schedule. This trend may be changing.

I am fortunate to work at a small company where I was told by my manager on day 1 that he was completely unimpressed by people working at 11pm. The mantra "work smarter, not harder" used to be an empty phrase for a lot of people, that may be shifting from what I've seen.

If you're hourly, of course it's a different thing.

But if you're salaried, it's an arms race. Employees willing to work extra hours get more done (or at worst, only appear to get more done), and thus will get the rewards and promotions.

I actually experienced the opposite. The employees who went to heroic efforts to work long hours and “get things done” were often the ones who did the worst work that had to be cleaned up by someone else later. The people who came in on time and left on time tended to be more methodical and their shit just worked.

Many people work low-paid jobs with constant risk of getting fired. In such cases, not answering the phone can mean not having a job next day. I know someone who sweats from stress because of a missed call and can stop doing anything, and I mean anything, to pick up that call.

I'm happy that I work in software and don't have to deal with bullshit like this, but many don't have that luxury.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com