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by bluthru 4378 days ago
>On the other other hand, if the employees enter into that deal consciously and happily, then maybe nobody loses.

Society loses. Friends and family lose. Health is probably compromised. Other businesses lose from the employees not being able to spend their money as frequently.

Maybe I wouldn't be so critical of it if we in American had the same amount of days off as other first world countries.
1 comments
CanSpice 4378 days ago
The key point is "consciously and happily". Different people have different situations going on in their life. If you're a 23-year old single employee, you might decide that you are willing to work 60 hours a week because you really like your work. If you're a 38-year old married employee with kids, you might decide that you're only willing to work 40 hours a week because you value time with your family. Having a company that realizes that there's a difference between people, and not everybody has the flexibility or willingness to put in 60-hour weeks, that's the key.
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alooPotato 4378 days ago
as long as people in those two camps are rewarded differently then this makes sense
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adt2bt 4378 days ago
And this train goes back to the "perceived effort" vs "actual effort" approach to compensation.

Fundamentally, is 60+ hour weeks sustainable, even if you love your job? Many in HN might view burnout, or an unwillingness to work 60+/week, as a personal flaw. But there's also another camp that argues consistent overtime produces a poorer product in the end. Personally, I notice a dip once I've worked 50+ hours/week for a couple weeks. I come into work mentally tired & get far less done.

Sure, an easy approach to compensation is "how much of his time/life did he sacrifice to work?" It's also by far the most common. Additionally, the people who signal that they're working hard in through self-promotion tend to take home more bacon. I understand human beings are emotional creatures, but in the vacuum of commenting on how much people should be compensated for hours on the job in a white-collar brain-intensive task, I think there should be more nuance than "Pay = hours * rate".

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