We proclaim valuing work-life balance as a signal. It's "look at me; I have enough valuable free time to spend it playing golf." We may or may not actually be a

We proclaim valuing work-life balance as a signal. It's "look at me; I have enough valuable free time to spend it playing golf." We may or may not actually be all that committed to it. We just use it for purposes of signalling status. People pursue status almost unconsciously. If you don't pursue status, you might pay for it with your job. The thing I find appalling is that employers seem to encourage this - after all, if your people are so busy knifing each other in the back, they're probably not actually working. Of course what I'm missing with that is - that's how they got there.