Friday, January 22, 2016

Are we lazy or is it something else...

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about this weird sense of pride people have when it comes to working long hours. “I work 92 hours this week.” “I remember the time I didn’t take a vacation day for 3 years straight.” “If you’re not working over 60 hours, you’re not working enough.” Are you kidding me? Why do people think this way?

Here’s the thing, to an extent I can understand this. When I was working in public accounting at one of the Big 4 (PwC) we would have certain times during the year when we were required to have no less than 60 chargeable hours. The key word here is “chargeable”. That doesn’t account for any other hours you may be required to work but can’t bill to a client. For example, meetings (like the weekly ones reminding us we should all be working more hours) required trainings, research projects, demands from the special groups we’ve been strongly suggested to join, etc. All of these hours are on top of those 60 chargeable hours. It would be like this for months. Multiple times a year. And we did it. Over and over again. I even remember feeling this sense of pride when I had more chargeable hours than my fellow associates.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I necessarily enjoyed “busy season”. In fact, I down right hated it and complained plenty to my fellow associates that understood the torture. Besides those gripe sessions, it’s almost like you’re trying to suppress the fact you hate your life. You focus on getting the work done (but not too quickly or else you’ll have to take on even more projects/hours). You remind yourself of all the positive aspects of working for the Big 4. And when all else fails you pray for it to end already.

My first job after leaving the Big 4 was like jumping into a freezing pool in the middle of winter. It woke me up to this whole other reality out there that I’d heard about, but never truly believed in. I never have to track my time? I have no minimum hour requirement (besides, of course, the 40 hour work week)? I can come and go without checking in and out with anybody? I don’t have to stay until my superiors leave? It was amazing! And for a long time the bragging about long hours and the superiority complexes created from all-nighters and skipped vacations were a thing of the past as well. Maybe it was because of the company and people I worked with at that job. Maybe it was because we were in a small town and not a big city. Whatever the reason, when I moved to Dallas I noticed a shift back to this skewed sense of accomplishment.

The most notable example came while I was at a work dinner a few months back. I was with a few colleges at a tax conference in Florida. The conference sponsor took a number of companies out to dinner one night and my coworkers struck up a conversation with head guy who put on the dinner. I still don’t even know how this conversation came about, but suddenly I found myself sitting there listening to them ragging on people 30 and under. Well…. I’m 28. And very uncomfortable. To be fair, I doubt any of them knew my actual age, but it’s safe to say I am considerably younger than all of them. They went on for some time about how this younger wave of employees just can’t handle the long hours and sacrifices like they did/still do. I was so annoyed listening to this conversation. Knowing it would not have been the time or the place to speak up I quietly focus on what food I was most likely picking at at the time and let them continue to rant away.

I can’t and won’t speak for everyone in my age category, because I know there are still a large number that do put in insane hours and skip a lot of personal events due to work. But, I do have some thoughts about this reputation of the “lazy” group.

To be fair, I actually agree with them to an extent. I do think in a number of ways they are right. Yes, we, the younger generation, may not be putting in the same number of hours they did. We may not sacrifice weddings, vacations, having families, etc. in lieu of getting in a few more hours at the office. I’ve determined two main reason for this and neither one has to do with us being lazy.

Side note: I do think there is a large number of young adults who are super lazy. They either want to live off mom and dad forever or are still trying to get rich without putting in any effort at all. These are not the people I’m talking about. I’m talking about the people who put in the effort to get a good education, were able to get a well-paying job after graduating college, and are performing well at that job. So, back to it.

My two factors - #1 more efficient at our jobs & #2 better prioritized lives. I believe it’s those two key items that truly make the difference.

Don’t get me wrong, we wouldn’t be able to be either of those things without the generations who came before. I wouldn’t be able to simplify the tax return preparation process using excel without having gleaned knowledge from those who had been doing it by hand for years. But what took them 10 hours to do by hand can now be done in 15 minutes using technology. So why would I spend another 9 hours and 45 minutes twiddling my thumbs?

I worked very briefly at a company who was so behind the times when it came to using technology to improve workflow and minimize the time it took to complete a project. I couldn’t handle it. They were literally making their jobs 20 times harder for no reason except for what I came to believe was a fear of making people change from their old ways. Here’s a hint, if you want to improve a process – start today. Sure, it’s going to be tough for a while, but by delaying the start all your ensuring is that you’ll have more time doing it the hard way and at some point you’re still going to have to go through the struggle of making the changes.

A few thoughts on my other point of better prioritizing our lives. I believe working hard is important. I’ve taken pride in my work ethic and in the work product I deliver. BUT, at the end of the day, I know that doesn’t account for much. Of course I need that paycheck and I’ll always do what it takes to keep that coming in, but work is work and my actual life is and will always be separate from that. I work to afford my life. When I hear stories of these people who have worked insane hours for years and decades on end I feel sorry for them. Sorry for all the fun times their families and friends that they weren’t a part of. Sorry for all the actual life experiences they missed out on. Sorry that they thought it was worth it.

When I think back over my post-college years I have a sense of accomplishment for some of the stressful work situations I’ve made it through. I’m grateful for the way my career has been shaped and where I’m at now. But more than anything I think of all the actual life experiences that have happened since I graduated. These have been some of the best and hardest years of my life. But it is this group of memories, the non-job related memories, which mean the most. And it’s this future group of memories I’m not willing to sacrifice to climb an extra peg up the corporate ladder.

So for me, for now, I’m going to enjoy the view from my current peg. Not because I’m lazy and have no work ethic, but because I know there are things besides this ladder than matter more.

No comments: