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I'm curious what sorts of people are attracted to this work environment. I'm currently working with a client where most employees seem like they are slammed all the time. Even with the work we're helping out on, there's no reasonable way to get everything done that they need in 40 hours or less. I suspect most people are putting in 50-60 hours a week just to stay afloat. I'm grateful that my hours are billable and they don't want us working OT as a result.
Some of the employees seem kind of burned out, while others seem to go with the flow. It's personally not for me. However, I'm intrigued by those who seem to thrive in this environment or, at the very least, put up with it. I wonder what keeps these types of employees so loyal when, in some cases, it's taking such a toll on them.
Here's something I've learned through several decades in the workforce - many people like to PRETEND they are slammed, giving them a false aura around them they they are a hard worker, dedicated, needed, etc. when the reality is, they probably kill half their working days performing non-essential work or, frankly, not working at all.
Case in point was my last job. I'm one who tries hard never to work late evenings or weekends. I had a few colleagues who were seemingly always working late hours and neither were shy to tell anyone who would listen how late they worked the night before. We'd often get emails from them at all hours of the night to sort of prove to everyone what great employees they were. Neither of these two people had any more or less work than I did and I never once in 2 years there worked past 6pm and only probably five times logged in on a weekend to catch up.
The fact of the matter is, those people (and others I've worked with through the years) were chronic procrastinators. With something due 3 weeks out, most reasonable people work ahead and plan accordingly. Lots of people I worked with would wait until the last few days to really double their efforts to try and get things done on time. I am by no means Mr. Super Employee, I definitely walk away from my desk throughout the day to clear my head, but I would never work in that manner.
Here's something I've learned through several decades in the workforce - many people like to PRETEND they are slammed, giving them a false aura around them they they are a hard worker, dedicated, needed, etc. when the reality is, they probably kill half their working days performing non-essential work or, frankly, not working at all.
Case in point was my last job. I'm one who tries hard never to work late evenings or weekends. I had a few colleagues who were seemingly always working late hours and neither were shy to tell anyone who would listen how late they worked the night before. We'd often get emails from them at all hours of the night to sort of prove to everyone what great employees they were. Neither of these two people had any more or less work than I did and I never once in 2 years there worked past 6pm and only probably five times logged in on a weekend to catch up.
The fact of the matter is, those people (and others I've worked with through the years) were chronic procrastinators. With something due 3 weeks out, most reasonable people work ahead and plan accordingly. Lots of people I worked with would wait until the last few days to really double their efforts to try and get things done on time. I am by no means Mr. Super Employee, I definitely walk away from my desk throughout the day to clear my head, but I would never work in that manner.
I agree, that's been true at a lot of places I've worked. There are always those procrastinators who like to convey the image of overworked and busy.
But I will say, this is one of the few places I've worked where I think a lot of the employees do legitimately have more responsibilities than can be taken care of in a normal 40 hour work week. Since I've been with them, it's been nonstop. Again, I'm extremely grateful that I can legitimately turn off my computer at 5pm and not feel an ounce of guilt about it.
I'd rather be busy than bored. The day goes faster if I am slammed. I enjoy being very busy, but only if I trust my boss to have my back if it becomes too much.
I agree, that's been true at a lot of places I've worked. There are always those procrastinators who like to convey the image of overworked and busy.
But I will say, this is one of the few places I've worked where I think a lot of the employees do legitimately have more responsibilities than can be taken care of in a normal 40 hour work week. Since I've been with them, it's been nonstop. Again, I'm extremely grateful that I can legitimately turn off my computer at 5pm and not feel an ounce of guilt about it.
My current place is a little like that. There are weeks where it is simply not possible to get the work done in 40 hours, even when working at a good pace. I don't think people necessarily enjoy that, but there are definitely colleagues who seem to prefer being overly busy to being bored. I definitely don't fall into that camp! I'll take bored all day, every day vs. stressed and busy.
My current place is a little like that. There are weeks where it is simply not possible to get the work done in 40 hours, even when working at a good pace. I don't think people necessarily enjoy that, but there are definitely colleagues who seem to prefer being overly busy to being bored. I definitely don't fall into that camp! I'll take bored all day, every day vs. stressed and busy.
I don't put a lot of weight into grind culture where you always have to be busy and work comes above all. I think if you constantly have to work 60+ hours a week to stay afloat, and it's not just a few big projects, a few times a year, that means your workplace needs to hire more people, not that you have to kill yourself working.
In my experience, with my CURRENT workload, not many people would be able to finish it in 40 hours.
There definitely are more efficient people and I have worked with them.
Like maybe 15-20% of the people I have worked with can do it, do a good job on the projects, and complete the administrative tasks as well. However it would be a hard 40 hours.
Those are what I call the superstar employees. They can just come into work, focus, don't really surf the web, they just bear down, work all day. And sorry to say, if you're a regular poster on CD forum, you're not one of those people.
Others just don't do a great job on the work or overbill the project and if they have good social skills, or have an authoritative personality, they can get away with it.
Others put in various amounts of extra hours. For me, all the time I spend on here has to be made up.
Others don't put in extra time, and don't have the social skills to save themselves, and they get fired. Even if you do put in the extra time, you may find yourself in this boat.
That said, I wouldn't expect the average person to be able to do my job, or my girlfriend's job (which is different but requires the same amount of hours).
I think the average office/college-degreed worker can do somewhere around 4-5 hours of REAL work a day and still do a good job on that work. I think that's what's reasonable to expect. The more you work, the more you should get paid.
Unfortunately, everybody wants high pay, everybody thinks they're a superstar, so ... it's easy to see what that does to the system.
The nature of my job means I alternate between 'feast and famine'---I'm either slammed all day, or I'm sitting around all day. Neither one's especially fun, to be honest. I'd love it if things balanced out in such a way that I had a steady stream of work all day, without it becoming a flood.
Today was a very slow day--I had a few things to take care of when I logged on, but I got it done in 30 minutes, so I was basically just monitoring my computer until I logged off. Fortunately, I worked a half day (doctor's appointment), and I was WFH, so I filled the time with a few loads of laundry and a load of dishes.
However, I've *rarely* (in civilian life, anyway), ever had to go over 40 hours to get all my work done. A past manager once remarked I had this weird ability to super-manage my workload in such a way that I would frequently have the most work to do, but would have the most free time on my hands, whereas coworkers might have 75% or even 50% of the workload I had, and they'd be having to put in overtime. Said manager admitted he felt sort of bad for giving me more to do, but he knew I'd get it done with time to spare.
He did get a complaint once from another coworker who saw me surfing the net one day. His response was, "Indigo's workload is twice yours, and she gets her work done more quickly and efficiently than you do. As far as I'm concerned, she can surf the net all damn day if she wants to."
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