There was a movie in the 80s called Gung Ho… it concerned the culture shock that occurred when a fictional Japanese auto maker opened a new plant in a small American town. Michael Keaton starred and there were laughs aplenty as both sides – the Japanese management and the American workers – eventually learned how to work together.
As you probably know, the Japanese are notorious workaholics. Managers, hourly workers and executives alike think nothing of working 14 hour days, 6 or 7 days a week, if they think it’s needed to get the job done. This was one thing the movie touched upon… the Japanese expected their new American workforce to share their work ethic, and condemned them as lazy when they didn’t.
Gung Ho is a pretty old movie now. Since its release, it appears to me that the American worker has done more than catch up to his infamous Japanese counterpart. We’re working harder and longer and for less money. It’s not because we are always being pressured to by our bosses (even though we have all been “asked” to stay a little late, etc), it’s because we think we’re obligated to.
If you’re working on salary, raise your hand and prepare to be paddled. Why? Because you are the worst offender. And before you squawk in indignation, let me tell you that I am on salary, and yes, I have already spanked myself.
“Salary” means that you have earned the privilege of knowing you’ll have a steady paycheck even if you have to miss time occasionally. What it does not mean is that you should pull long hours day in and day out, or work through lunch or breaks. What used to be a perk is now a burden. And we have done it to ourselves.
We Americans have let our work consume us. Dedication to our employer is one thing; slavish obsession is quite another. We’re dedicated and want to give our employer our best effort every day, but when that best effort affects your “me” time or even your health, it’s time for a change.
When we are so consumed with our jobs that we’re unable to enjoy the fruits of our labor or have quality time at home, something is terribly wrong.
Personally, I have been a workaholic ever since I began making my way up the management ladder. I’ll never get back all the times I missed something my kids were involved in because I was too busy. I won’t get back the needless hours spent micromanaging something instead of expecting others involved to kick in and do their part. At home… working evenings and weekends on job tasks instead of just kicking back and relaxing…. all those thousands of hours are gone, too.
No more.
From now on, I take my breaks and lunch time just like everyone else.
When I leave the office, I leave my job there. No more lugging a briefcase home. What I can’t finish before the end of the day will be taken care of the next day.
The 10/11/12 hour days are over. I don’t get paid for overtime so why should I work it?
I have deleted my company email account from my cellphone and home computers. I’ll check my email while at work, obviously, but once I walk out the door, whatever comes in can wait until tomorrow. If it’s a weekend, it can wait until Monday.
All this probably flies in the face of what many of you believe. However, you can do it, too. Say it with me, “No more.”
You’re not getting any younger. Enjoy your home, friends and family. Take the time to do things just for you. Relax, unwind, vegetate. There is absolutely nothing job-related that can’t wait until the next morning. When you walk out the door at your place of work, leave the work behind. The world won’t end because you didn’t manage to take care of everything before the end of the day.
It took me nearly 40 years to realize this. Don’t follow my example.
That is very odd. You say you were on salary for 40 years, yet you are not yet 60 years old.
When did you start receiving a salary? I think you overestimated the number of years that you have worked and received a salary when you said this “It took me nearly 40 years to realize this.”
Live long and prosper.
I didn’t mean to imply I’ve been drawing a salary for 40 years, but I have been employed for nearly that long, taking my first “real” job with a company at the age of 16 in 1974. Salary-wise, I have bounced between hourly pay and fixed pay, but I would guess that I’ve drawn a salary of some type for at least half my career. Thanks for reading, and I’m a Star Trek fan, too.