The first entry we chose, comes courtesy of the New Rules section on the HBO show, Real Time With Bill Maher. In this segment, Maher delivers a blistering assessment of our culture’s passive acceptance of a proper work/life balance. We wrote about this problem back in April, and think it’s an important issue that needs more attention.
Far too many companies say they respect their employees off the clock time. However, the reality is those same companies are taking up much more of their worker’s time through mandatory overtime, mandatory off day meetings, off duty access to work emails, and other work related detritus, and….well, watch Bill’s take on it, and tell us what you think, on our message boards.
The sad thing is, it’s been so long since I’ve had a good job or even a decent one, that I cannot relate to this phenomenon. I’ve rubbed shoulders with those who have one, such as my cousin/landlord, and from watching and listening to her I can only guess what it’s like. But from what I gather from her, Bill is absolutely right: If she didn’t put in 70 plus hours a week or take her work home, some one else would do it in a nanosecond. There are underemployed people just waiting in line to be exploited full time. I am one of them. The alternative is my reality: having a part time job in your field and another working at, say, McDonald’s, so that I can keep my cell phone on and maybe have just enough money left over to catch a movie or dinner with friends once a month.