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Most people who have answering emails as part of their job are not working for an hourly wage. The other aspect is that some of us actually like our work and wa

Most people who have answering emails as part of their job are not working for an hourly wage. The other aspect is that some of us actually like our work and want to succeed at it: we don’t see work as slavery or some kind of adversarial relationship with the “boss.” Many people actually believe in what the company is trying to do and actually care about the job. And the work has to get done at some point right? Most jobs that involve answering emails aren’t like factory jobs where you simply make as many widgets as possible during your shift and that’s is. Every email I answer “on the train” means one less thing to do when actually at the office. Which means I can take a longer lunch or just relax a bit more or just have a slightly less frenetic pace.

shady-lady 8y ago
> The other aspect is that some of us actually like our work and want to succeed at it: Work is work. Your employer pays you money to do work. If you do work outside of that, it doesn't mean anything other than you don't want/can't enforce a boundary between your work life and private life. Also, yet another aspect is that even more of us like our work and want to succeed at it but have been around for longer than x years where the novelty of being "always on" has worn thin. An employer taking advantage of one's lack of boundaries is bad form regardless of whether the employee can't/won't see how detrimental it can be.
- tvh 8y ago
  Well said. As someone else said above, tying career success to off-call work is bonkers (both for the employers and the employees), yet sadly common.
s73v3r_ 8y ago
"The other aspect is that some of us actually like our work and want to succeed at it" I like my work and want to succeed at it too. Do not insinuate that someone who values their time outside of work doesn't. That is demeaning and insulting to the rest of us who have lives outside of work.

shady-lady 8y ago

> The other aspect is that some of us actually like our work and want to succeed at it: Work is work. Your employer pays you money to do work. If you do work outside of that, it doesn't mean anything other than you don't want/can't enforce a boundary between your work life and private life. Also, yet another aspect is that even more of us like our work and want to succeed at it but have been around for longer than x years where the novelty of being "always on" has worn thin. An employer taking advantage of one's lack of boundaries is bad form regardless of whether the employee can't/won't see how detrimental it can be.

tvh 8y ago
Well said. As someone else said above, tying career success to off-call work is bonkers (both for the employers and the employees), yet sadly common.

s73v3r_ 8y ago

"The other aspect is that some of us actually like our work and want to succeed at it" I like my work and want to succeed at it too. Do not insinuate that someone who values their time outside of work doesn't. That is demeaning and insulting to the rest of us who have lives outside of work.