Work / Play balance
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Soldato
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I have two businesses of my own. One brings in all the bacon (and an awful lot of it too) while the other is developing. My working weeks vary between 40 and 100 hours for one business and I use my time off (weekdays, not evenings or weekends) to develop the other business. In ten years I hope to sack off the busy job and semi-retire to 6 weeks of work a year in the other job on half the money.
I don't have time for many holidays right now (2011 was my last, I had a week off doing nothing) but I will reap my rewards soon.
I don't have time for many holidays right now (2011 was my last, I had a week off doing nothing) but I will reap my rewards soon.
I find myself doing what I would've been doing myself at home at work anyway so... it's hard to tell, really. It's either terrible (as I do a fair amount of study for my coursework next year in my free time) or amazing. Then I also go running/jogging/walking some of the way sometimes as leisure which feels like work for the first mile or so and then awesome so it's really hard to tell.
Where I work you may finish for the day, you may be needed for something or other if you're able to help. A small 30 person company being the main reason for this. You soon learn to live with it.
Having said that, and probably as consequence, my social life is truly abysmal and has been for well over a year.
Having said that, and probably as consequence, my social life is truly abysmal and has been for well over a year.
~37k if my maths is right. Its sort of within reach for me but would mean me doing a fair amount of self study too I think
All work and no play makes jack a boy sad but doing the same work all your life and the same play also makes jack a boy sad!
Some people are fine with a minimum wage job all their life as that's all they know. But they also have to be prepared for minimum wage play
Personally I would much rather work my balls off for a bit, then go on an epic holiday and/or buy nice things
Associate
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As long as you arn't working any more hours go for it.
Soldato
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Play what is that? I work Tues-Sunday starting at 16:00 and go onto 03:00. Money isn't good but it is better than Jobseekers I guess.
You (the collective you, as in the staff) are at fault for letting this happen. Irregular all-hands requirements to stay late are one thing, but if the company is fighting fires constantly or every day is too short for the amount of work to do then you have terrible managers, sales people who over promise and need to be brought into line, or too few staff. Or a bit of everything.
Start leaving on time, you might enjoy it. Just make up some commitments. It will become apparent fairly quickly that once a couple of hours free labour each day isn't guaranteed that people rediscover their ability to plan work.
Absolutely. I work 8-6 most days although there is no set time (sometimes I'll start at 10, sometimes end at 4 and sometimes work 18hrs a day just to get things done).
Even if you worked workd exactly 8hrs a day that is a third of you time, you have to add on commuting, and sleep, and just doing house work/chores/paying bills/getting car repaired etc). End of the day it leaves very little time left. And getting an odd hour here or there each evening to yourself, although nice, is not useful. E.g. I want to go skiing everyday so would love a 5hr window in winter to do that, 1-2hrs is basically just right to have a beer and watch a little TV.
And then there is the fact that if you work your 8-10hrs at the end of it youre too tired to do much in the evening. And if you are in any job with any kind of responsibility then you also end of thinking and stressing at the weekends. You never really get a break.
On the flip side it is hard to do a thing. You need money to live. It is also not easy for most people to reduce working hours. I would love to work 4 days a week but the overheads for staff are such that this is a very expensive proposition for most companies. Plus is tends to break scaling and time tabling, e.g. I would in a 6 man team and it is a race against time to get our product out before competitors. If half the team workd a 4 day week then timetables would slip and the bussiness be less viable, so then we would need an extra hire which increases running costs further.
So my plan is early retirement. I hope to retire from the long hours and stressful but high paying career by my late 40s early 50s. I need to earn as much has I can in the next 15-20 years, pay of the mortgage, get pension up to speed and some investments, and then retire to a part time casual job that pays beer money. I'll possibly end up being an old ski bum, doing odd jobs in ski towns and skiing as much as I can. I'm kind of doing life in reverse to what a lot,of people do. But if you are in a job that pays well then there are a lot of benefits to sucking it up and making a decent living.
Still, if an employer offered me a 3 or 4 day week I would liekly take it up and postpone retirement.
I'm very thankful to be in a position to earn £50-80k a year.
Even if you worked workd exactly 8hrs a day that is a third of you time, you have to add on commuting, and sleep, and just doing house work/chores/paying bills/getting car repaired etc). End of the day it leaves very little time left. And getting an odd hour here or there each evening to yourself, although nice, is not useful. E.g. I want to go skiing everyday so would love a 5hr window in winter to do that, 1-2hrs is basically just right to have a beer and watch a little TV.
And then there is the fact that if you work your 8-10hrs at the end of it youre too tired to do much in the evening. And if you are in any job with any kind of responsibility then you also end of thinking and stressing at the weekends. You never really get a break.
On the flip side it is hard to do a thing. You need money to live. It is also not easy for most people to reduce working hours. I would love to work 4 days a week but the overheads for staff are such that this is a very expensive proposition for most companies. Plus is tends to break scaling and time tabling, e.g. I would in a 6 man team and it is a race against time to get our product out before competitors. If half the team workd a 4 day week then timetables would slip and the bussiness be less viable, so then we would need an extra hire which increases running costs further.
So my plan is early retirement. I hope to retire from the long hours and stressful but high paying career by my late 40s early 50s. I need to earn as much has I can in the next 15-20 years, pay of the mortgage, get pension up to speed and some investments, and then retire to a part time casual job that pays beer money. I'll possibly end up being an old ski bum, doing odd jobs in ski towns and skiing as much as I can. I'm kind of doing life in reverse to what a lot,of people do. But if you are in a job that pays well then there are a lot of benefits to sucking it up and making a decent living.
Still, if an employer offered me a 3 or 4 day week I would liekly take it up and postpone retirement.
I'm very thankful to be in a position to earn £50-80k a year.
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Normally my work life balance is pretty good to be fair, however a mixture of reasons have made it a bit less fun over the last few months - essentially the bulk of our more profitable work is now falling over the weekend and the week day stuff alone isn't enough to keep the doors open - but the majority of staff can't see that if we don't adapt to this there isn't a future there and do everything to get out of Saturday work and seem to just imagine the job will be there forever as if by magic leaving the few of us who understand the situation for what it is to have to put in extra effort to keep things going (work isn't exactly plentiful down here so none of us fancy looking for another job).
On the flipside though I'm not entirely against making a weeks extra pay each month at the moment as it gives me a nice bit of extra money to spend on toys
but in the long term I hope more people pull their weight a bit more and I can reduce hours a bit again.
EDIT: In general though I think the work life balance isn't great - having done 4 on 3 off for awhile without taking a pay penalty it does immeasurably boost your quality of life IMO - while not sure if it was more than just the novelty of it it everyone I worked with seemed more positive and seemed to have more energy than usual, the quality of their work was definitely better but unfortunatly due to changes in management, etc. it didn't last long.
On the flipside though I'm not entirely against making a weeks extra pay each month at the moment as it gives me a nice bit of extra money to spend on toys
but in the long term I hope more people pull their weight a bit more and I can reduce hours a bit again.EDIT: In general though I think the work life balance isn't great - having done 4 on 3 off for awhile without taking a pay penalty it does immeasurably boost your quality of life IMO - while not sure if it was more than just the novelty of it it everyone I worked with seemed more positive and seemed to have more energy than usual, the quality of their work was definitely better but unfortunatly due to changes in management, etc. it didn't last long.
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Work round a 12 week roster which essentially has a "good" half when you get well spaced out rest days which you can link by taking a couple of days leave to make a week off. The other half isn't quite so good. Although it's a 35 hour week, Sundays are rostered on top of that (and paid quite generously so very few people chuck them in). The mix does include two weeks of nights - one of seven on the trot that finishes with 2 x 12 hour N/T's and the second of five nights. There's also a smattering of 12 hour shifts throughout the roster and two "spare" weeks where you don't know what you're doing until the Thursday before (could be nights again).
At the moment I'm on the seven nights and the work/life balance feels awful, particularly as I haven't slept too well this week. However in a couple of weeks I'll be enjoying a week off courtesy of the two days leave, so that will compensate. Ultimately, I like the job, there's superb cameraderie with colleagues it pays well and now only a few years away from being able to retire on a pretty good pension - most important it's paying the bills and keeping a roof over our heads so life would be pretty pants without it!
I certainly won't miss the Nights (or 12 hours) when I do retire though!
At the moment I'm on the seven nights and the work/life balance feels awful, particularly as I haven't slept too well this week. However in a couple of weeks I'll be enjoying a week off courtesy of the two days leave, so that will compensate. Ultimately, I like the job, there's superb cameraderie with colleagues it pays well and now only a few years away from being able to retire on a pretty good pension - most important it's paying the bills and keeping a roof over our heads so life would be pretty pants without it!
I certainly won't miss the Nights (or 12 hours) when I do retire though!
Soldato
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between work and my online VFX course, some weeks I feel like it, but I also feel I am too lazy. I end up gaming or watching star trek more than I do my coursework sometimes. Ultimately I suppose this balances things out
Soldato
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This, really. I'm doing work until midnight most days, but I actually enjoy it, so I say that's a good balance. I'm not sure my wife would agree.
I do make sure weekends are spent with the kids though and we have time out to do stuff for them (and I do the jobs that I'm bugged to do).
I think the phrase 'Work to live, not live to work' is not a very good one. I used to think it was but not so much when you think about.
'Work harder to live better' Is a much better one
I could have worked to live as I was when I was 18. Not a care in the world, working in a tomato factory for minimum wage with people that messed around and would now class as 'no-hopers' I didnt have much money, but enough to go on a summer holiday and buy a few new clothes.
I imagine some people are still working there today, doing their usual play and living in their crap hole houses.
There comes a time when you want nicer things, better holidays and generally more money
'Work harder to live better' Is a much better one
I could have worked to live as I was when I was 18. Not a care in the world, working in a tomato factory for minimum wage with people that messed around and would now class as 'no-hopers' I didnt have much money, but enough to go on a summer holiday and buy a few new clothes.
I imagine some people are still working there today, doing their usual play and living in their crap hole houses.
There comes a time when you want nicer things, better holidays and generally more money
08:00 - 16:00 here - I feel frankly overpaid for what I do - but certainly don't feel like I'm working too much.
If anything I'd like the opportunity to earn extra by taking on more responsibilities/working longer hours, I'm struggling with working in a place with no stress at all.
If anything I'd like the opportunity to earn extra by taking on more responsibilities/working longer hours, I'm struggling with working in a place with no stress at all.
Soldato
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For me it's work/home/play in that order.
I'm fortunate that I do 8am to 4pm with a 15 or so minute commute at either end, I can't complain.
I've done the whole 80+ hour weeks at work and to be honest, for me, nothing is worth that stress, particularly the strain on relationships. That said, without having done that grind I wouldn't be in the role I am in now.
Family life dominates any play time I used to have which is now an evening a week if I'm lucky. Don't get me wrong, I love my family but I simply have no time for hobbies which apart from a bit of PC gaming once in a while, I have all but given up everything else.
Enjoy all the free time you get as you may not always be in that position to do what YOU want!
I'm fortunate that I do 8am to 4pm with a 15 or so minute commute at either end, I can't complain.
I've done the whole 80+ hour weeks at work and to be honest, for me, nothing is worth that stress, particularly the strain on relationships. That said, without having done that grind I wouldn't be in the role I am in now.
Family life dominates any play time I used to have which is now an evening a week if I'm lucky. Don't get me wrong, I love my family but I simply have no time for hobbies which apart from a bit of PC gaming once in a while, I have all but given up everything else.
Enjoy all the free time you get as you may not always be in that position to do what YOU want!
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That's your champagne socialist guilt kicking in, it'll soon stop if you stop reading the Morning Star every day.
I can lend you one of my copies of Atlas Shrugged to help, if you like?
