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High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

wsj.com

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Re: High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

#61

Post by lupire »

greatpostman wrote: post #21

Controversial opinion: Men are concluding that women don’t care about money as much as they used to, and having an amazing career to snag a great woman is no longer the best (or even a good) strategy. In some ways, being a dedicated corporate employee makes you unattractive as a person. I know a lot of guys in their late 20s that think this. And I know a lot of broke bar tenders dating great women. Unless you are mak…

Why would a bartender be broke? Are they ugly? An ugly broke person (with no economic prospects) dating a great woman is interesting news indeed.

Re: High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

#62

Post by andrewclunn »

greatpostman wrote: post #21

Controversial opinion: Men are concluding that women don’t care about money as much as they used to, and having an amazing career to snag a great woman is no longer the best (or even a good) strategy. In some ways, being a dedicated corporate employee makes you unattractive as a person. I know a lot of guys in their late 20s that think this. And I know a lot of broke bar tenders dating great women. Unless you are mak…

Agreed. Except that it goes further in that many men are forgoing the family aspirations in general. Women are also far less... motivating these days. Who's going to work hard to provide for overweight ladies who rant about how horrible men are? Save your money, save your time, and if you really want a family, the key isn't more money, it's to find women from cultures that value men and fathers, which isn't the West.

Re: High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

#63

Post by dmitryminkovsky »

kodah wrote: post #55
dmitryminkovsky wrote: post #17

> That translates to 1.5 hours less time on the job each workweek, or a 3% reduction in hours. A search for “statistically significant” yielded no results. So why am I not to assume, especially given the source, that this is more of that “Americans are lazier and less productive” thing that plays out daily in right-leaning media?

Marc Benioff is a progressive and has been quoted many times saying the same thing about his own workers.

But statistical significance? I like anecdotes as much as the next person, but we’re talking “truth” and stuff here, right? This paper is out to critically inform me, right?

Re: High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

#64

Post by lupire »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #54
bilsbie wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do women care about instead?

Height, intelligence, and a sense of humor. You can often get by with just two. Beyond a certain threshold, throwing money at women doesn't really yield more results. Or at least not the kind of results you'd want.

If you are tall, smart, and funny, but can't pull in good money, you probably aren't so smart. Unless maybe you are ugly? But then does tall still help?

Re: High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

#66

Post by _cenw »

kaydub wrote: post #36

I can work harder and take on more responsibility for a $20k-$40k increase in salary. Or I can take it easy, let some of the team take on some of the load, and make sure I do enough . Working harder and working for someone doesn't make you rich or wealthy. It can make you comfortable. I'm already comfortable. The real money is in ownership. So I'll put less hours in working for someone else and keep my mind fresher a…

Also, it't not even a bad deal for employers. Binding time spent to money taken home like everyone is a blue collar worker where output is approximately linear (or, an a moving assembly line, actually ideally linear) doesn't work for knowledge based jobs, especially if they involve creativity. Productivity goes down the longer you work.

I switched to a 32 hour week and I don't feel like my productivity is impacted beyond not being able to attend some meetings, most of which were superfluous anyway. If it's really important I will make the time elsewhere, but that has happened once or twice in ~8 months.

Re: High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

#67

Post by lupire »

dmitryminkovsky wrote: post #17

> That translates to 1.5 hours less time on the job each workweek, or a 3% reduction in hours. A search for “statistically significant” yielded no results. So why am I not to assume, especially given the source, that this is more of that “Americans are lazier and less productive” thing that plays out daily in right-leaning media?

The source being WashU economists? Is that a right-wing think tank?

Re: High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

#68

Post by nradov »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #35
leetrout wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just had this conversation with a potential employer yesterday. I have worked hard at not working so hard (seeing a therapist for life coaching) and I am "guarding my calm" with looking for a job.

I see job postings with "must be able to multitask" and "high intensity environment" and I think the 80s called and it wants its 8 ball of coke back. It's common knowledge - or should be - multitasking is a productivity loss, not gain. And the last thing the world needs is another headless-chicken culture where working hard and frantic is confused with smart and efficient. Guard your calm...no one else will.

We all know that multitasking reduces productivity, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it's better to optimize for low latency instead of high throughput.

Re: High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

#69

Post by bradlys »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #41
tsunamifury wrote: post #25

Many men discovered over the course of the pandemic how much they actually loved spending time with their family and how unrewarding office life is. Unfortunately the powers that be have decided that this realization is incompatible with how the economy is set up to work, commuting office space work lunches and dinners etc. and so back to the office we will be forced to go.

So don't go! We have the power. I know it's easier said than done, but anyone who has the means to do it should try.

Individual actions won’t really lead to any societal change though. Your change won’t change your future jobs.

You need worker solidarity at a large class level.

Re: High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

#70

Post by aikiplayer »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #35
leetrout wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just had this conversation with a potential employer yesterday. I have worked hard at not working so hard (seeing a therapist for life coaching) and I am "guarding my calm" with looking for a job.

I see job postings with "must be able to multitask" and "high intensity environment" and I think the 80s called and it wants its 8 ball of coke back. It's common knowledge - or should be - multitasking is a productivity loss, not gain. And the last thing the world needs is another headless-chicken culture where working hard and frantic is confused with smart and efficient. Guard your calm...no one else will.

"the 80s called and it wants its 8 ball of coke back."

This phrase made me laugh out loud - literally. Thanks for this!

Also, this thread is spot on.

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