Who’s a workaholic? It certainly wouldn’t be me, nor you…would it?
Ha! Remember the Eighties, where you were supposed to be a proud workaholic, in your little blue suit and tie? That was back before we got lives. Or brains, I think. Now it’s more fashionable to have a balanced life, and thank god for that. Just be sure you walk the talk (or rest the talk in a hammock, as the case may be).
In a society where time (ie labour) is money, and Corporate HQ often sees labour as a cost sink rather than a precondition for doing business, the temptation to overclock your people is both strong and pervasive. I’ve been pulled aside by regional managers whose bonuses depended on keeping overtime down and told point-blank that if I reported any overtime I would be fired, while they also knew quite well that the job required more than the scheduled hours. These, fortunately, are people who lost their careers (or at least their jobs) when HQ found out. Here they’d been trying to make things better for their employees, only to find that the regional managers were in some cases sabotaging their attempts to bring work/life balance.
But it was so easy, once I started, to let the hours creep up. I could make things better. I could get things just the way I wanted. If I only put in a little more time. A little more time. A little bit more.
The week I was diagnosed with cancer I pulled 93 hours, 40 of them after the diagnosis.
Let me just say that cancer, whatever its negative qualities, has a marvelous way of concentrating the mind. It was twelve months before I returned to work, and I didn’t begrudge a moment of it. Several times I fielded 5am phonecalls from collegues whose partners had not shown up for work, and it was a great relief to be able to say, “Sorry, I’m not going to be able to work it. I have cancer.” There’s not really any comeback a for-profit corporation can make to that which is what you might describe as sane.
Over at ThisTimeThisSpace (on the blogroll!) she’s posted a great article on how to determine if you’re a workaholic, complete with some hard numbers and a few even harder questions you need to ask. Consider your answers to those a Benchmark and record them; then, re-test yourself in a few months. Check yourself out and read on to the balancing strategies she’s listed and resources she’s supplied.
One more thing to do:
Enjoy the weekend!
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raincoaster media 
archiearchive
July 6, 2007
I admit I was not a worker during much of the 80’s (I was caring for an invalid spouse) but I was always shocked at the duplicity of the business attitude then. If I as an employer were to steal a pen or a paperclip, I could be fired, yet all I had to offer as a worker was my time. There was no penalty for the corporation which stole my time by insisting on unpaid overtime. But I was then, and still am, a tree-hugging Leftie, so my opinion is unimportant. :)
raincoaster
July 6, 2007
Well, it always depends which company you work for. I encourage the labour market to assert itself; right now we’ve got fruit that’s going unpicked because the conditions are so awful that nobody will take the jobs. The farmers scream, but it’s the ones who will pay a living wage who will get their crops in. At Starbucks, where I was, the HQ was actually trying to help us. It was certain of the regional managers who were trying to sabotage the whole thing.
Remember, when you characterize an entire group as evil based on their membership in that group, you are descending into bigotry, regardless of who’s wearing the sandals and who’s wearing the wingtips.
archiearchive
July 6, 2007
Unfortunately, as one ages, ones recollections tend to blur people together. And it was not the people, the individuals, it was an ethos. It was those entrepreneur run giant corporations of the 80’s where the 24/7 work ethic of a driven person seeped down through the ranks like a poison and even the minimum waged slaves were expected to have the same enthusiasm and loyalty to “The Company”. Right up till when someone higher up the food chain decided it was necessary to downsize. That was when I discovered that corporate loyalty is a one-way street. While I acknowledge that some corporations were not driven in this way, here in Australia it seemed to be the norm. I keep trying to find a quote I partially remember from years gone by. Something about committees making decisions more terrible than any individual ever would.
raincoaster
July 6, 2007
Indeed, in the Eighties it seemed like throwing yourself into working for the Corporation was equivalent to salvation. Just as in the Nineties it became all about doing startups. Just as in the (what do you call them, Aughties?) now, it’s all about being an entrepreneur. And the truth, as usual with humans, is that one size doesn’t fit all. If we’ve learned anything from the last forty years, let it be that different roles are appropriate for different kinds of people, and be glad.
brightfeather
July 9, 2007
I’m glad you found my post interesting enough to link to and to blog about.
raincoaster
July 9, 2007
It’s a really useful post, with a lot of good information. Thank you for writing it.