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Are 12-16 Hour Workdays Productive?
theodp writes " It's important to me,' former Opsware CEO Ben Horowitz recalls saying as he threatened a manager for termination because one of his subordinates failed to conduct 1:1 meetings, 'that the people who spend 12 to 16 hours/day here, which is most of their waking life, have a good life. It's why I come to work.' Ben seems to be cut from the same management cloth as new Yahoo CEO Marissa 'I-Don't-Really-Believe-In-Burnout' Mayer, who boasted how she solved the work-life balance problems of mother-of-three 'Katie,' who was required to attend nightly 1 a.m. video conference calls with her Google Finance team in Bangalore, by no longer making Katie also stay for late meetings on her Google day shift on those occasions where it'd make her miss her kids' soccer games and recitals." Jason Fried, C.E.O. of 37signals, wrote a piece for The New York Times recently singing the praises of working a 4-day week part of the year.
I love this article and intend to quote it if I ever need to.
But not for me when I have to keep fixing the mistakes made by the guy who doesn't understand when he's hit a wall and needs to go home.
and they should be treated like the sociopaths that they are.
Missing "work?" No, I've been missing a lot of meetings.
(For managerial, talking is working. For technical staff, meetings are precisely the opposite of work.)
I know a friend of mine who did something more or less the same, the pay was extremely good, fancy company car, big travel benefits - in return they basically owned his life, not only the long hours but he could be bounced around to any place they needed him to work. When you're young and single you can pretty much do this, put your life on pause for half a year or a year and make a buttload of money. It was also a case of "been there, done that, downpaid my loans and got my economic freedom, never again".
I remember seeing a documentary on the TV this weekend about some spoiled brats who were sent on a trip to discover how hard other people had to work for their money. Their first stop was a sapphire mine in Africa where it was hard physical labor, six long days a week for the local minimum wage - basically enough for food and practically nothing else. Compared to that you're still in your comfy chair in your air-conditioned office, it's not like long coding sessions will kill anyone. Sure I could do it, that I don't want to is an entire matter entirely.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
“Do you know the difference between a good place to work and a bad place to work?”
Well for one, in a bad place to work you're expected to be in the office for 12-16 hours a day.
(mock rage mode on) Why is it that the punks in the Non-USA countries always get to work the "normal" hours and those in the USA have to be the ones getting up in the middle of the night to call the "foreigners" during their day? huh? HUH?
Strange, I noticed the exact opposite.
I've seen people working in the US calling at all hours like they don't actually understand there is a time difference.
Why do you need to feel sorry to the people who Live to Work. They have a life, they are doing what they are interested in... It just happened to be work.
Do any of us really care for everything that suppose to be important.
I mean how much time do we really do about the following and yes I am missing a lot. ...
Controlling Carbon Pollution.
Saving endangered animals
Stopping War and Violence
Helping give the next generation education and good values
Insuring everyone is being treated fairly and justly.
To be fair most of us who work to live are focused on Banging their preferred gender, and spending time with their genetic offspring, and others with either genetic or personal similarities.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Normal people have to pay bills, go grocery shopping, cook food, raise any kids they may have.
300 million, you pay people to do all that shit for you. It frees up a lot of time.
... still waiting for this free-as-in-beer free beer I keep hearing about.
"Summer holidays"
Just lots of people using their annual leave (/vacation time) at roughly the same time. All of the EU gets at least 20 days (i.e. four weeks), some countries have more than that -- e.g. 30+ days.
At my workplace we get 30 days at the start. August is always quiet (but never empty!), and the whole city is quieter for July and August -- traffic is less, the trains are less crowded, the news is either international or silly (not much UK/EU politics happens).
Europe is quite far north compared to the US, so the extra daylight in summer (and the lack of it in winter) really makes people want to make the most of the summer generally, and August especially (warmest).
Believe it or not, your holiday time really screws you economically.
No one here cares ;-)
Just some economic/demographic perspective for Americans that may not be familiar with the Scandinavian countries:
Norway has a population around 5 million (roughly the size of the US state of Alabama or Colorado.
Norway's GDP per capita adjusted for PPP is about $53,500. This would put them around 10th among us states.
Sweden has a population of about 9.5 million (about the size of the US state of North Carolina). Their GDP per capita adjusted for PPP is around $48,500. This would put them around 20th among US states.
They both adhere to Nordic Model socioeconomic systems (which includes universal 'free' healthcare and education), which are rather successful. The tax burdens in these countries are very high, fluctuating around 50%.