Why are we okay with long work hours?

[Anonymous]

Because John Calvin said so

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I don’t get it. She gets home at 6:15pm. That’s plenty of time to grab drinks with friends, go to the gym, watch a show, make a dinner, take a shower or some combo.

I think part of the problem is that work takes your prime energy hours and leaves you with the exhausting evening hours. Add in things like cooking dinner, needing to get laundry done, other chores and childcare, there just isn’t much usable time in the evening. What good is free time if everything else is zapping your energy to make the most of that free time.

Honestly this is why I work from home. I want to go for a run or grocery shop in the middle of the day, not at 7 pm.

The TikTok poster doesn’t have kids. When I was in my 20s I worked from 7:30 am- 5:00 pm most weekdays. I was home by 5:15 (yes yes very short commute), cooked some ten minute dinner or ordered food, and still had time to watch tv or workout or grab drinks with friends. I did laundry maybe once a week on weekends. I had five hours after work each day to do whatever I wanted, and all weekend. I always wanted more free time but certainly didn’t feel burned out or anything. She just doesn’t want to work.

And she has a job not a career. She is working bare minimum. When I was 23 I worked 830 am to 630 pm every day. With a 3 hour round trip total time commute. And we had to wear suits so all that time and expense. Guess what I dated, went to happy hours, ski trips, vacations. When you are young you have endless energy.

The sad part is younger people are stupid. You see when I was 23-45 we worked long hard hours and watched the 45-65 years drop like flies and we moved up lady quickly.

Today 2/3rds my senior mgt team are old as hills. Showing up on Jeans, working remote 1/2 the time, leaving early. I doubt anf of these fossils could get up 6 an put in a suit, do an hour commute work 10 hours straight everyday and hour commute home with no lunch break as too busy and no WFH. They all retire or be fired. Opening up VP and SVP roles for younger people.

If anything this tic tick person should want 14 hour work days mandatory in person and watch profits soar through roof and old people drop like flies so she is SVP by 35.

Yes, as you age, you have less energy. (You also have fewer f&cks to give.) And?

Human resources are, well, human. A good HR policy accommodates people's humanity. So what if they wear comfortable clothes and work from home, if they are contributing to the common goals?

And FYI: Working 55 hours a week increases the risk of death: https://www.who.int/news/item/17-05-2021-long-working-hours-increasing-deaths-from-heart-disease-and-stroke-who-ilo

The study concludes that working 55 or more hours per week is associated with an estimated 35% higher risk of a stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease, compared to working 35-40 hours a week.

"This work-related disease burden is particularly significant in men (72% of deaths occurred among males), people living in the Western Pacific and South-East Asia regions, and middle-aged or older workers. Most of the deaths recorded were among people dying aged 60-79 years, who had worked for 55 hours or more per week between the ages of 45 and 74 years."

The Japanese and even now India are infamous for long working hours. I've had exposure to that environment and it is insane.

I find my 50 hour week, sometimes closer to 60 a few times a year, perfectly manageable. I like the income that comes with it. No interest in being poor. Feel free to stop working or shift to a easier workload but don't expect me to fund it.

Well you will fund it, you will die young with lots of money that will be taxed harshly and there you go... thanks for your service.

Doubt it.

You seem really bitter. You want a life of leisure - go for it. Just find an easy job. You just need to accept the financial trade offs.

NP - Nah. The trade off is not worth my life and my happiness. I get the career v job are 2 different things and somewhat easier to grind it out if you are developing a career. Growing your own business is meaningful as well. But ultimately, I think very very very few people are confident or lucky enough to have that path at age 21. I get some older people who had to do the 9-5 in office grind feel that kids now should also be subject to that because it didn't kill them but honestly, aren't we all trying to make life better for ourselves? Don't we all want to be happier and healthier and improve as human beings?

I think 9-5 is hard to change because human nature is hard to change. We still have daylight savings. We still do a lot of stupid things even in this day and age when we have tech supporting us. It's hard to know what makes sense but I agree with that new grad on Tik Tok that it's really hard and totally stupid. Working isn't what we're made to do, esp if it's job centric and for 95% of us, work = job. Even when it's a career, you should try to work smarter not more hours. I just don't see people changing because tradition is hard to break.

Nah. People have to work to live well. The 40 hour workweek is amazingly easy by the standards of humanity. People have to work to live. We are effectively made to work because if we don't work we starve to death. It's that simple.

What do you want? A nice life with everything paid for by the government? Then who has to work to fund this?

First of all, people have moved from physical labor to non-physical labor. See how people who do the former desperately want to move to the (US) countries that favor the latter?

Next, the government does not have to pay for someone to have a "nice" life. You can choose to work less and still survive and moreover, you can choose to live to work v work to live often by working "smarter" aka not as much as you can just because you're supposed to or because you want a "nice" life.

I say this as someone who makes $250k and is able to focus when I work my ass off yet do not work more than 30 hours or so per week. I say this as someone who wants to work the least amount and make the most I can. I say this as a small business owner. People who feel that work must be a grinding activity are doomed to be unhappy.

This is what I strive for every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:India works 70 hours per week

Great. Let’s aim to be like India.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:9 to 5 has been standard for so many decades and it’s actually less than in other eras. What I can’t figure out is how you all have no time. We work full time and our only household help is an every other week house cleaner. We have three kids. We have time every single day to go to the gym and do family activities. We spend a couple of weekend hours on grocery shopping, prep for the upcoming week and laundry but that leaves us tons of time for activities and hobbies.

This is an obvious lie, unless you work from home. When I worked 9-5 (before I had a child), I got up at 5am, left the house at 6:30 to clock in by 7:30 with no chance of being late, which was a big deal at my workplace), Worked until 4:30pm, then worked another 30 minutes or so because no one could get out of that place on time without looking like a clockwatcher, got home by 6pm, exercised until 7pm, ate dinner about 7:30, then showered and went to by 9 or 10. If I had 30 minutes to read a book it was a lucky day. And that was before I had a kid. So there is no way someone with kids can do anything besides work, eat, and sleep unless they wfh or the kids are teens maybe.

So you had 4 hours at the end of the day of free time. And it sounds like that wasn’t a 9-5 but a 7:30-5?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:9 to 5 has been standard for so many decades and it’s actually less than in other eras. What I can’t figure out is how you all have no time. We work full time and our only household help is an every other week house cleaner. We have three kids. We have time every single day to go to the gym and do family activities. We spend a couple of weekend hours on grocery shopping, prep for the upcoming week and laundry but that leaves us tons of time for activities and hobbies.

This is an obvious lie, unless you work from home. When I worked 9-5 (before I had a child), I got up at 5am, left the house at 6:30 to clock in by 7:30 with no chance of being late, which was a big deal at my workplace), Worked until 4:30pm, then worked another 30 minutes or so because no one could get out of that place on time without looking like a clockwatcher, got home by 6pm, exercised until 7pm, ate dinner about 7:30, then showered and went to by 9 or 10. If I had 30 minutes to read a book it was a lucky day. And that was before I had a kid. So there is no way someone with kids can do anything besides work, eat, and sleep unless they wfh or the kids are teens maybe.

You chose a job that was 7:30-5:00 (9.5 hours instead of 8). You made that choice.

There are other jobs. Maybe not as well paying, but there are jobs out there that are really 9:00-5:00. Just because you chose a job that wasn't that, doesn't mean that the PP before you told "an obvious lie". I have seen many offices that really were 9:00-5:00 and where people dropped their kids off and picked their kids up from daycare or used either before-care or after-care for a pretty regular schedule. Those who prioritize a higher salary, may have to make sacrifices for that salary and that includes working extra time.