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Subject:Re: Average hours worked From:kcronin -at- daleen -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 5 Aug 2002 9:27:54
Am I the only person who thinks there's more to life than work?
I mean, I like work, but I can think of things I'd rather do. LOTS of
things. I've met people for whom there is nothing more satisfying than
their job, and that's fair enough. But it ain't me.
That's why I want to have a good idea of how many hours I can expect to
give to my employer. Yes, I'm giving them my skills, my creativity; any
other resources I can give them that are applicable.
But first and foremost (IMO), I'm giving them my time. Ans any time I give
them is time I do not have free for my own pursuits.
I'm one of those who finds there are not enough hours in the day to do
everything I'd like to do, so my time is a very valuable commodity to me.
If you tell me from the outset that you'll be expecting 60 hours a week
from me, I'll tell you no thank you, and no hard feelings. But if you hire
me for 40, and then I begin being pressured to work 60, you'll have an
unhappy camper on your hands.
I traveled through Norway last year, and was struck by the differences in
our their culture from that of the US. While all the people I met were
extremely hard workers with great work ethics, I learned that overtime is
discouraged. Overtime wages are not attractively inflated, to lessen the
incentive to work extra hours. Why? Because the national culture encourages
people to spend time with their families; to do other things with their
time. Not just work.
They have national holidays where the virtaully the whole country takes
time off. The standard length for maternity leave is ONE YEAR. And MEN get
paternity leave, to help acclimate their families to the changes imposed by
the new arrivals.
The more I learned, the more I was in shock. But it was a great wakeup
call, and reaffirmed what I believe: there's more to life than work.
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