Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Exactly. The employee becomes chained to an electronic leash. They have a more flexible schedule but ultimately work more hours a week to compensate. I recently talked to a couple of guys in upper management who banked over 500 hours of unused PTO. I asked them why they didn't take any of it. They said any vacation days they took would make them twice as behind when they returned to the office.
At least they’re banked. Many companies are moving to “unlimited” vacation which means no accrual and no payout if you leave or are let go.
I respect your comments but you also missed the "always on call" expectations of today which really started around the time you retired. Smart phones with email are assumed for many roles (and often provided by the company), and as a result flex-time has become more apparent to compensate. You're never officially off the clock, so you need to blend your personal life with your work life.
You worked a 40 hour 9-5 (or 9-6 with an hour lunch) week. From Friday @ 5 until Monday at 9 you were also left alone most of the time I bet. You talk about "drifted in late or left early" but did any of those people go on email at 6am? 10pm? Get pulled into a weekend project?
The millennial generation wants to be able to come and go and work more flexibly, perhaps take a yoga or spin class at lunchtime, or be able to leave early to go to a doctor appointment without the command-and-control mentality of the 60's and 70's. They are now the largest component of the workforce.
Where I do agree with you is with respect to productivity. If someone can achieve a full productive workday in 8 hours then why stick around for 10? Unfortunately, management often perceives "butts in seats" surfing the web as being "there", and working efficiently before heading out earlier as "slacking off". And that's not a new mentality, I've seen it for close to 30 years.
Agreed with part of this.
I'm a part of an on-call IT rotation, one week out of every four. During the weeks we're on-call, we're available, and even when we're not, we're technically supposed to be available if the on-call cannot resolve. While the on-call hasn't been so bad the last few months, I was being paged sometimes between seven and ten times per day on many shifts earlier in the year. The quality of life was just awful - there was one night I was paged twice between 2-3 AM for a password reset when there's a "forgot your password" option on the damn website.
I closed on a home Friday. I left a little after lunch. I was on-call, but didn't take PTO. That's how salaried exempt should week.
If you're expecting people to be butt in seat sixty hours a week, plus on-call, plus "whenever," with no flexibility, of course they'll hate it.
I'm a part of an on-call IT rotation, one week out of every four. During the weeks we're on-call, we're available, and even when we're not, we're technically supposed to be available if the on-call cannot resolve. While the on-call hasn't been so bad the last few months, I was being paged sometimes between seven and ten times per day on many shifts earlier in the year. The quality of life was just awful - there was one night I was paged twice between 2-3 AM for a password reset when there's a "forgot your password" option on the damn website.
The following example will not work for people in major metros, but it's illustrative for those people who live in cities surrounded by expansive rural swaths.
One of our IT managers who oversees a group of 10 engineers (our IT teams are split by OS, so if something goes haywire on a Microsoft server, this guy is responsible) lives way out of town. Like 60 miles -- deep into corn country. He is also one of those 6am until 2pm types, meaning he is never here after 2:30pm max.
Several years ago, the company mandated smart phones for all managers, and this guy said, OK, well I am going to cancel my landline so I don't have to pay twice. Long story short, he is now incommunicado from about 3pm when he fades out of the exurbs until 6 or 6:30am the next workday. Just zero signal.
I'd fire the guy myself -- his unreachability has resulted in several prod outages requiring other managers to step up. But you have to give him props for his clever solution....
Don't know what careers these 50+ hours/week are in; however, when I entered the workforce back in the 60s we actually 'worked' while on the clock. No needless socializing, personal phone calls, coming in late, leaving early. . . and amazingly our work was completed in our standard eight hour day and forty hour week (this was an office job).
By the time I retired nearly ten years ago, the entire workplace environment did a 180 (again, office work). Employees drifted in late or left early and it was ignored by management. People would spend way too long walking around talking about anything non-work related to anyone who would listen; they would play on their phones (text or whatever) and make personal phone calls; use the company computers to surf the net. This resulted in needless overtime (when nothing much was done then anyway); and/or work product being shoddy.
Again, this is what I witnessed over the many decades.
Amazing how if you actually use the time wisely how much can be accomplished.
The following example will not work for people in major metros, but it's illustrative for those people who live in cities surrounded by expansive rural swaths.
One of our IT managers who oversees a group of 10 engineers (our IT teams are split by OS, so if something goes haywire on a Microsoft server, this guy is responsible) lives way out of town. Like 60 miles -- deep into corn country. He is also one of those 6am until 2pm types, meaning he is never here after 2:30pm max.
Several years ago, the company mandated smart phones for all managers, and this guy said, OK, well I am going to cancel my landline so I don't have to pay twice. Long story short, he is now incommunicado from about 3pm when he fades out of the exurbs until 6 or 6:30am the next workday. Just zero signal.
I'd fire the guy myself -- his unreachability has resulted in several prod outages requiring other managers to step up. But you have to give him props for his clever solution....
The expectation should be on him for being reachable, not simply complying "to the letter" of the requirement.
This is true. Where I work, over half of the location team has separated. Being shorthanded, doing the job of three or four associates, working longer shifts and on days off, and compensation not increasing fuel burnout and turnover.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
