People Are Stupid - Workaholics

Last night on 60 Minutes, Leslie Stahl of CBS News reported a story entitled "Working 24/7." It was about how American work weeks of 60-80 hours are the norm. All the digital gadgetry makes working that many hours feasible, and 40 hour work weeks are long gone.

What a crock!

First of all, I personally don't know of anyone that works 60-80 hours/week on a consistent basis. Sure there are times when the demands of work require that level of effort, but those times are rare. Additionally, it usually means that a project someone is working on is on a death march, doomed to fail, but nobody wants to be the person not putting forth the same level of effort towards the end. Might look bad on their performance review, and their 0-2% raise at years end might be in jeopardy....Oh Golly!

Second of all, people overvalue their hourly contributions. I've consistently have heard people at the office exclaim their 50+ hour work week when asked (chest out and chin up). These are the people who say they worked a 12 hour day when they go on a business trip that requires them to wake up at 6:00 a.m. and check in to their hotel at their destination at 6:00 p.m. Geez, what a busy day talking on your cell phone in between flights. Don't knock yourself out on that all that scotch you're gonna put down in the lobby bar that night. The truth is, that people aren't really working at all. They might be away from home, but working? It's always a stretch. Even in the office. If you took the amount of time that these people are away from home and subtracted idol hallway conversations, superfluous meetings, coffee clutch breaks and lunch, you're probably back down in the 10-30 hour per week range. I'd like the 60 minutes cameras to follow me around my company for a week. That would reveal the antithesis of this story.

Lastly, it doesn't matter. If the work put in really is in the 60-80 hour per week range, and the individual is really only getting 10 hours of work done in that same timeframe, who's the idiot? When you're on your death bed pissing and moaning about how you wish you would of spent more time with your family or did all those things you never got to do, you won't want me in the room laughing at you.

From the episode...

"With so many Americans working more than 40 hours a week, it may surprise you to learn that when it comes to productivity, the U.S. is not No. 1. In fact, workers in four European countries, including France, are more productive per hour of work than Americans — that’s the key: "per hour of work" — even though the Europeans work less and take more vacation."

Is your chest out and chin up still knowing that the people of France are more productive than your stupid butt? Way to go Dr., nice BlackBerry and ear bud walking through the airport, that'’ll get it done.

The real issue of course is productivity and efficiency! Stop lying to yourself about the hours you put in each week. You impress me as a stupid person the second I hear it, and convey you suck at getting your job done.

Workaholics = lying unproductive stupid people.

Done.