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.
Does anyone really enjoy working 60+ hour weeks under the following circumstances?
1) Money is not the primary motivating factor. I know many people who are working these hours or longer but they're mostly after the money (or the potential for more money in the future.)
2) They're not doing this to escape problems at home.
3) They're not doing this to meet some temporary deadlines. They've been working 60+ hour weeks for many years.
I highly doubt I could even spend 60+ hours a week even at a hobby.
Last edited by ragnarkar; 08-22-2012 at 12:12 PM..
How are you counting the hours....? i.e. from when you arrive at work to when you leave? I used to pull these type of hours when I worked at a start-up (back in the mid-90's)... basically I would arrive at 7am and leave around 7:30pm. That said, its not like the entire time is dedicated to work activities. Most of the time, we would take a long lunch.... there are also lots of "socializing" or water cooler discussions. We certainly did a lot of work as well - and since it was a startup, we all wore multiple hats. However, it certainly wasn't like making widgets non-stop for 12 hours a day.
The environment was that you simply didn't mind being there. We all had a sense of ownership in the stuff we were doing. The perks were also nice.. around 4pm..the beer would start flowing and dinner was ordered more often than not. As the company grew, and policies were enacted.. things did change (having beer/drinks and meals for 30-60 people is one thing... when you have 300, it becomes a bit tough to do). At some point, it simply wasn't worth staying and hanging out.
I did this and more for a while when in retail management, And it included travel to more then one store and staffing issues. Awful. Had NO time for anything. had to wash clothes by hand piece by piece as they would have to be worn because there was no time for regular laundry. It was most days-work 9:00 AM (Some travel was over 1 1/2 hours long.) rush home to get a few hours of sleep. Repeat. It takes it's toll eventually from friendships, to relationships and personal well-being. Insane.
Work/life balance is important. I sacrificed a lot in my life in the past by not following this.
I do this now. I do not really enjoy it. Sometimes it is because of non primary job function reasons and other times it is. Come January I will probably be pulling 70+ hour weeks due to our systems being available to accept performance reviews.
I did it for six months when I began working again after several months of not working. I was doing the work that I enjoy doing and it felt good to be back in the groove. To me, it was energizing to be busy again instead of enduring the long days searching for work, which is very draining. The extra money was just an added benefit to me.
Since then, I've tapered back into a more reasonable work-life balance.
How are you counting the hours....? i.e. from when you arrive at work to when you leave? I used to pull these type of hours when I worked at a start-up (back in the mid-90's)... basically I would arrive at 7am and leave around 7:30pm. That said, its not like the entire time is dedicated to work activities. Most of the time, we would take a long lunch.... there are also lots of "socializing" or water cooler discussions. We certainly did a lot of work as well - and since it was a startup, we all wore multiple hats. However, it certainly wasn't like making widgets non-stop for 12 hours a day.
The environment was that you simply didn't mind being there. We all had a sense of ownership in the stuff we were doing. The perks were also nice.. around 4pm..the beer would start flowing and dinner was ordered more often than not. As the company grew, and policies were enacted.. things did change (having beer/drinks and meals for 30-60 people is one thing... when you have 300, it becomes a bit tough to do). At some point, it simply wasn't worth staying and hanging out.
I would not see that as a perk. I would rather eat dinner with my wife than with my coworkers.
In any case, I find the people who enjoy working extreme hours to be very frustrating, since they pressure "regular" people like myself into working longer hours than is ideal.
I'm not sure I'd ever enjoy 60+ hour weeks no matter how much I enjoy my work. I do this for about a month at a time a few times a year. That month always has big effects on my relationship with my girlfriend because I come home so incredibly drained during the week and still do work on the weekends. I always tell her that I wouldn't be drained if I got paid overtime. Or at least market rate salary...
Depends how much you like to work, and how much you like the work you are doing. I've worked these types of hours over the years. Basically, I liked the money at first, and was able to save a lot. Over time, I just got used to working the hours and anything under 60 hours didn't feel like a full time job. I'm mostly working 40 hours now and occasionally wonder what to do with the extra time.
Yes, I've worked two jobs pretty often, at one time I worked two jobs to get extra experience, it was in the same kind of work but I figured seeing just one place wouldn't get me the experience and connections fast enough. Other times if I didn't get a full time job right away, I would take a part-time job and then get a full time job and just keep them both.
I've also gotten bored with working in one field so got a part time job in something very different just to have some variety.
Or one time I left because of a horrible boss but I wanted to keep my foot in the door so I went part time there and full time somewhere else.
Now with some of the uncertainty in the economy, I'm thinking of working two jobs again for a while just in case things take a nose-dive.
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.
I can't see how.
