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Working more than 55 hours a week kills 750k people a year worldwide

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Re: Working more than 55 hours a week kills 750k people a year worldwide

#71

Post by lotsofpulp »

Clubber wrote: post #65
n_ary wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I said yes to almost all the work I could get. My bosses loved me and I got raises/promotions faster than anyone else. That culture of “hardwork = reward” is long behind us. Instead of being the “guy who reliably gets things done whatever you throw at them”, I advise on saving one’s sanity and avoid potential burnout by finding a friendly place where they enjoy and have power to make decisions(yes, place exists whe…

>That culture of “hardwork = reward” is long behind us. No it's certainly not. I think it's a convenient excuse to not work hard though. People talk. I always get asked, "we're hiring, you know anybody?" I would recommend someone who works hard and never mention someone who doesn't. I had a brilliant but lazy colleague who I've never recommended to anybody. Every job I've had in the last 25 or so years is because I w…

Working smart matters even more. Some jobs require more working hard (re: long hours and 6 days per week) than working smart though, and obviously employers love employees who want less money per time.

As an employee though, you want to work smart. And that might be working longer SOMETIMES to learn skills, but the chollida1’s post does not give me that vibe. You only get your 20s once, and while they might have thought it worthwhile to trade them for financial security in their 40s and 50s, I wouldn’t say that is an optimal move, or even a necessary sacrifice.

It is the main reason I would advise my kids from becoming doctors. The sacrifices the system asks are far too much. I had much more fun than my doctor friends and they did not end up better off. Spend time with family and friends, do leisure activities that you won’t be able to do when older, etc.

Re: Working more than 55 hours a week kills 750k people a year worldwide

#72

Post by omginternets »

unglaublich wrote: post #18
omginternets wrote: post #5

If we worked zero hours, then zero people would die from working. See also: "we lowered the speed limit and get X fewer deaths on the road".

Flawed logic. Lowering the speed limit does not reduce the time spent on the road, yet fewer people die.

Huh, that's actually a good point. Thanks for that.

Re: Working more than 55 hours a week kills 750k people a year worldwide

#73

Post by fsckboy »

alfalfasprout wrote: post #57
chollida1 wrote: post #2

I think this is more about manual labour but I'll take the opposite side when it comes to white collar work that working more hours can be better early on in your career. When I was just out of school and in my early 20s I worked as much as I could, I probably did close to 12 hours days in my 20s. I think I probably averaged an all nighter a month for a few years and worked at least one day on weekends and I loved ev…

> I didn't seem to miss out on a social life and I had no burn out or resentment to speak of from those days Correction: you don't really know what you missed out on or don't value those things.

that's not a correction, you're just offering potential explanations

Re: Working more than 55 hours a week kills 750k people a year worldwide

#74

Post by bluefirebrand »

Clubber wrote: post #64
switchbak wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sitting is pretty bad, yes. And it's also incredibly common - which is why it gets the press it does. Combined with a sedentary lifestyle, it's a recipe for serious and predictably poor health outcomes. But it isn't half as hard as extended periods of hard physical labour, day after day, especially as you grow older. Doubly so if you don't have proper medical care, and your employer doesn't tolerate sick days. These…

I dunno, is getting exercise all day at work better or worse for your health than sitting down all day at work? Naturally hazardous jobs like coal mines excluded.

It's not just "getting exercise all day"

Manual labor jobs overtax people's bodies. They get older and break down hard. They commonly turn to substance abuse to try and help themselves get through it all.

Re: Working more than 55 hours a week kills 750k people a year worldwide

#75

Post by ecshafer »

sonicanatidae wrote: post #56
BossingAround wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we're not known for common sense when it comes to working hours Sorry, what does this mean? As in sysadmins are notorious for non-stop working? (I've never been a sysadmin and I don't know any sysadmin tropes.)

Yes. We work normal shifts, but also, the very best time to work on servers is after hours/holidays, etc. so we tend to work a lot of both. We also tend towards ownership of the gear, so it becomes a little personal. It's also a bit of professional pride. I worked as the Director of IT for 3 hospitals over my career in acute care. I maintained 99%+ uptime on these systems, since this is acute care. I'm proud of that,…

Sysadmins and “1 man it shops” are tough because most people in business dont give a shit until its broken. Its a classic “it works fine why do we pay you?” Or “its broken what do we pay you for anyways” situation 95% of the time, its lose lose. If you are sales you work hard and bring more money, engineer work hard and deliver product faster. Ops just works hard to keep things alive, its very under appreciated by business.

I say this in no way to be dismissive of ops, if anything i am negstive of many management types, especially in non tech companies, that under value their ops teams.

More sysadmins should do a strict 40 hour work week, ask for overtime and paid on call.

Re: Working more than 55 hours a week kills 750k people a year worldwide

#76

Post by sage76 »

chollida1 wrote: post #2

I think this is more about manual labour but I'll take the opposite side when it comes to white collar work that working more hours can be better early on in your career. When I was just out of school and in my early 20s I worked as much as I could, I probably did close to 12 hours days in my 20s. I think I probably averaged an all nighter a month for a few years and worked at least one day on weekends and I loved ev…

>I did the learn a language a year thing and that helped me get a job as a compiler writer.

>And I was able to leverage that into becoming a quant as I put in the hours to relearn all the math I'd forgotten from school.

What was your first job role?

Re: Working more than 55 hours a week kills 750k people a year worldwide

#77

Post by Clubber »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #74
Clubber wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno, is getting exercise all day at work better or worse for your health than sitting down all day at work? Naturally hazardous jobs like coal mines excluded.

It's not just "getting exercise all day" Manual labor jobs overtax people's bodies. They get older and break down hard. They commonly turn to substance abuse to try and help themselves get through it all.

Some jobs do, but the substance abuse part can be said for chair jobs as well.

Re: Working more than 55 hours a week kills 750k people a year worldwide

#78

Post by Clubber »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #71
Clubber wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>That culture of “hardwork = reward” is long behind us. No it's certainly not. I think it's a convenient excuse to not work hard though. People talk. I always get asked, "we're hiring, you know anybody?" I would recommend someone who works hard and never mention someone who doesn't. I had a brilliant but lazy colleague who I've never recommended to anybody. Every job I've had in the last 25 or so years is because I w…

Working smart matters even more. Some jobs require more working hard (re: long hours and 6 days per week) than working smart though, and obviously employers love employees who want less money per time. As an employee though, you want to work smart. And that might be working longer SOMETIMES to learn skills, but the chollida1’s post does not give me that vibe. You only get your 20s once, and while they might have thou…

>Working smart matters even more.

I mean yea. Hammering a board to your head all day for 12 hours won't accomplish anything. I figured that goes without saying.

Re: Working more than 55 hours a week kills 750k people a year worldwide

#79

Post by lotsofpulp »

Clubber wrote: post #78
lotsofpulp wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working smart matters even more. Some jobs require more working hard (re: long hours and 6 days per week) than working smart though, and obviously employers love employees who want less money per time. As an employee though, you want to work smart. And that might be working longer SOMETIMES to learn skills, but the chollida1’s post does not give me that vibe. You only get your 20s once, and while they might have thou…

>Working smart matters even more. I mean yea. Hammering a board to your head all day for 12 hours won't accomplish anything. I figured that goes without saying.

The second paragraph here is what I meant.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=lordnacho

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