Why is staying late equivocated to working hard?
You could probably get all of your work done in 3 hours and have the rest of the day to play. You could. But some stupid system says you have to be there for 8-10 hours, like a chump. This sucks!
I got the idea for this post from Fast Company. Their article is called:
Work Your Proper Hours: A Campaign Against Unpaid Overtime
Chances are, you worked more than eight hours yesterday, and ate lunch at your desk. A new campaign would like you to stop doing that, please (and to stop your boss expecting it). It’s killing you and it’s ruining the economy.
According to the Trades Union Congress, a federation of labor unions, more than 5.2 million U.K. employees worked 1,968 million unpaid overtime hours last year. If all these employees did all their overtime work at the beginning of the year, they would essentially work for free until February 24. And so the TUC has selected that date for its 10th annual Work Your Proper Hours Day. Employees are encouraged to observe the day by showing up to work on time (not before!), taking a full lunch break, and leaving on time.
It’s a lighthearted campaign, but unpaid overtime is not without real costs. In a 2010 study, published in the European Heart Journal, working three or more hours longer than a 7-hour workday corresponded with a 60% increase in heart-related problems. Overworked employees have also been shown to be less productive and more likely to make mistakes.
And then there are the economic effects. The more work companies squeeze out of people in unpaid overtime, the fewer new employees they have to hire. The TUC estimates that unpaid overtime in the U.K. was equivalent to 1 million full-time jobs. And because that work is unpaid, the state loses out on that tax revenue, too. Read the full article here.
What happens when you don’t work your proper hours? You get bronchial pneumonia. And then you have to stay in bed for a week. True story.
So next time your boss wants you to stay late, ask:
Why is it not okay for me to work from home?
So seriously, if it’s after 5pm, GO HOME.
And hey, this doesn’t just happen in the UK. In France in 2012, there’s a Paris hospital where the overworked staff are owed TWO MILLION holiday days.
I want to ask you, Where is the joy in our daily working lives?
Is there a reason the majority of people in America hate going to work?
If you are an overachiever, type A or something like that, you probably take pride in how hard you work.
But working too much is going to kill you.
Here are some resources that might help:
Are you a workaholic fundraiser? Take the quiz!
Getting out of a workaholic rut
Also, let’s just stop and acknowledge that sometimes it’s not the boss pushing us, it’s ourselves.
How to learn how to ask for help
Yeah, you know you need to learn how to delegate. How about right now?
Now that you know you need to relax, want some humor?
I know humor is tricky but maybe you’ll like this.
I just discovered Patricia Lockwood’s humor. I am not responsible if you click on this link. http://emperoroficecreamcakes.blogspot.com/2011/07/toilet-is-rose-growing-out-of-sea.html
SHOULD WE END WITH A SENSUAL PHOTOGRAPH
I THINK THE ANSWER IS YES