4 ms·

I really don't get why anyone who can choose when to stop working and whose compensation is not hourly would ever work longer hours. Your time doesn't belong to

I really don't get why anyone who can choose when to stop working and whose compensation is not hourly would ever work longer hours. Your time doesn't belong to your employer.

xerosis 6y ago
Because often people rely on that work and it needs to be done ?
cj 6y ago
Some people enjoy their work. It's not always 100% about the money.
- randomProducer 6y ago
  > It's not always 100% about the money. ... for the employee
  - lipstone 6y ago
    It's not 100% about money for the employer, either. Human emotions are real and managers aren't just blindly following game theory.
    - randomProducer 6y ago
      You're right it's not 100% but I made that comment to admittedly "get a reaction". I think it's good to remind people of this dynamic, the way you think about your workplace is just half the story. > Human emotions are real and managers aren't just blindly following game theory Absolutely, which means this isn't guaranteed. This isn't part of a companies DNA ( you could argue good people always get hired?). This isn't true for all work places. The truth is it depends on the people that work there and just like you mentioned that you could have caring emotional humans as managers, you can also have not-caring emotional humans as managers. If I had to make a grand generalization about most workplaces then I think it's safer to say they would care more about money (for profit/staying in business) than I would say they care about making me, an employee, happy. Having said that I've worked in great places where I don't feel it's 100% about the money. I know some of that feeling is genuine because of the people I work with. I also know that feeling is intended and is the primary focus of some departments in companies. I know that I'm in a field that has enjoys greater privileges than other workers. I try to remind myself about this and I think I'm ok with saying that "it's 99% about the money for the employer". A bit cynical (or realist depending on your view).
- chadlavi 6y ago
  There's a difference between "I enjoy programming in my free time" and "I will program my employer's stuff on my free time." The first one is enjoying what you do, the second one is a sucker creating value for their employer without being compensated for it.
  - cheerlessbog 6y ago
    That’s an over simplification. My job is owning part of an open source stack. There’s countless fun projects in that which aren’t a necessary part of my job but are fun to do out of hours and and still happen to contribute to my employer’s larger goals. Eg, refactor some subsystem to make it faster. Everyone wins, and because the source is open any future employers can see it also. Plus I enjoy working with my coworkers and learn a great deal from doing so: it’sa good environment for such projects.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
booleandilemma 6y ago
Deadlines.
true_religion 6y ago
I work to hone my craft. If I stop at strictly 8 hours per day, I have to both invent a side project and task switch to it. This isn’t a problem usually, but sometime I just want to do 1 extra hour to really understand a problem and it’s easier to donate that time to work.
BurningFrog 6y ago
If you think of your employment as a mutually beneficial relationship with your employer, it's not that strange.
- balfirevic 6y ago
  That's true, but it is also true no other single thing (other than sleep) in my life gets 40 hours/week from me. Not even my partner. That's simply a lot of time. That being said, when I was working full time job, I didn't mind working extra hours sometimes if it seemed like it was a legitimate need and was respectfully asked of me, but I did expect an equal amount of time off afterwards.
whateveracct 6y ago
I haven't run into a software job yet that actually required 40hrs/week to hit requirements. Remote work just means now I don't have to waste time in the office to hit 40hrs/week. Now I can use it to play video games or spend time with my family. And get paid the same to do it!
silveroriole 6y ago
Yeah, what on earth? I’m working fewer hours because once I get a reasonable amount of work done (i.e. about what I would have done in the office) I close my laptop and stop for the day. I’m shocked by the number of people saying they’re working longer out of lack of anything else to do. That’s really sad.
- naveen99 6y ago
  It’s because an aspect of work is gamified. People may compete with each other for promotions or commissions. Academics compete for fame, grants. Also there are students who don’t stop learning when they know they can ace their school exams... sometimes they are genuinely interested in the topic.

I really don't get why anyone who can choose when to stop working and whose compensation is not hourly would ever work longer hours. Your time doesn't belong to your employer.

xerosis 6y ago

Because often people rely on that work and it needs to be done ?

cj 6y ago

Some people enjoy their work. It's not always 100% about the money.

randomProducer 6y ago
> It's not always 100% about the money. ... for the employee
- lipstone 6y ago
  It's not 100% about money for the employer, either. Human emotions are real and managers aren't just blindly following game theory.
  - randomProducer 6y ago
    You're right it's not 100% but I made that comment to admittedly "get a reaction". I think it's good to remind people of this dynamic, the way you think about your workplace is just half the story. > Human emotions are real and managers aren't just blindly following game theory Absolutely, which means this isn't guaranteed. This isn't part of a companies DNA ( you could argue good people always get hired?). This isn't true for all work places. The truth is it depends on the people that work there and just like you mentioned that you could have caring emotional humans as managers, you can also have not-caring emotional humans as managers. If I had to make a grand generalization about most workplaces then I think it's safer to say they would care more about money (for profit/staying in business) than I would say they care about making me, an employee, happy. Having said that I've worked in great places where I don't feel it's 100% about the money. I know some of that feeling is genuine because of the people I work with. I also know that feeling is intended and is the primary focus of some departments in companies. I know that I'm in a field that has enjoys greater privileges than other workers. I try to remind myself about this and I think I'm ok with saying that "it's 99% about the money for the employer". A bit cynical (or realist depending on your view).
chadlavi 6y ago
There's a difference between "I enjoy programming in my free time" and "I will program my employer's stuff on my free time." The first one is enjoying what you do, the second one is a sucker creating value for their employer without being compensated for it.
- cheerlessbog 6y ago
  That’s an over simplification. My job is owning part of an open source stack. There’s countless fun projects in that which aren’t a necessary part of my job but are fun to do out of hours and and still happen to contribute to my employer’s larger goals. Eg, refactor some subsystem to make it faster. Everyone wins, and because the source is open any future employers can see it also. Plus I enjoy working with my coworkers and learn a great deal from doing so: it’sa good environment for such projects.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

booleandilemma 6y ago

Deadlines.

true_religion 6y ago

I work to hone my craft. If I stop at strictly 8 hours per day, I have to both invent a side project and task switch to it. This isn’t a problem usually, but sometime I just want to do 1 extra hour to really understand a problem and it’s easier to donate that time to work.

BurningFrog 6y ago

If you think of your employment as a mutually beneficial relationship with your employer, it's not that strange.

balfirevic 6y ago
That's true, but it is also true no other single thing (other than sleep) in my life gets 40 hours/week from me. Not even my partner. That's simply a lot of time. That being said, when I was working full time job, I didn't mind working extra hours sometimes if it seemed like it was a legitimate need and was respectfully asked of me, but I did expect an equal amount of time off afterwards.

whateveracct 6y ago

I haven't run into a software job yet that actually required 40hrs/week to hit requirements. Remote work just means now I don't have to waste time in the office to hit 40hrs/week. Now I can use it to play video games or spend time with my family. And get paid the same to do it!

silveroriole 6y ago

Yeah, what on earth? I’m working fewer hours because once I get a reasonable amount of work done (i.e. about what I would have done in the office) I close my laptop and stop for the day. I’m shocked by the number of people saying they’re working longer out of lack of anything else to do. That’s really sad.

naveen99 6y ago
It’s because an aspect of work is gamified. People may compete with each other for promotions or commissions. Academics compete for fame, grants. Also there are students who don’t stop learning when they know they can ace their school exams... sometimes they are genuinely interested in the topic.