[wilg]

If hack days are screwing up scheduling, that's a scheduling problem. (You'll have to figure that out with your company.)

If hack days are used to prototype work that's definitely going to be done anyway, that's a planning problem. (You'll have to figure that out with your company.)

If people are investing work upfront just to make a good impression at hack day, that's a cultural problem. (You'll have to figure that out with your company.)

But generally, just relax and do something creative and fun and low-pressure.

[coldtea]

If the company was capable of solving those problems, the parent wouldn't be complaining...

Instead it just piles up "hack days" on top of those

[koliber]

Maybe.

Another possibility is that the company is capable of solving problems. It identifies a problem, creates a plan, and comes up with a solution. OP feels good in such a process.

Maybe the company is solving the wrong problems and is using hack days to surface novel problems it has not identified before. Maybe the company did not explain the value of the hack day in a way that someone who enjoys working in a structured way will not see it as a waste of time.

[wilg]

OK, but doesn't make it fruitful to treat the symptom instead of the disease.

[coldtea]

Often you make do with what you can treat.

It makes no sense to take a student loan and have debt either, but its more feasible and pressing to do than managing to get the system to reduce tuition prices.