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I work in the tech industry. When I am at work, I am friendly and talk to colleagues. I am a team player and prefer to work in groups. I like working hard and diligently at whatever I do. However, unlike many of my peers of the same age, I don't want to work long hours. I want to put in my time and go home. In fact, I would much rather be paid hourly than salaried because it puts a cap on the amount of time I should be working and any more than that, I am compensated for. If I am salaried, there is theoretically no limit to how much I can be asked to work.

I am an introvert and I don't want to hang out after work or even go to company parties. I don't want to do work from home or on the weekends. I don't want to do much outside the allotted work time because I have hobbies and a life outside of work that I am passionate about (e.g. my family, playing guitar, reading, filmmaking, hiking).

Am I the only one who feels this way because it sure seems like it is. Is this detrimental for my career?

noblerare
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    No, there's nothing wrong with this, and it's not at all uncommon. Work to live vs. Live to work. That being said, I'm voting to close this question as primarily opinion-based. – David K Mar 02 '17 at 13:05
  • What you're asking isn't a clearly answerable question and will probably be closed. In fact, I don't even see a problem described. This isn't a discussion forum. Check out related questions for similar scenarios, such as http://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/31824/pressured-to-take-work-home-by-colleagues?rq=1. – Z. Cochrane Mar 02 '17 at 13:08
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    The one point I fail to get is why being salaried is part of your issue. Most employment contracts I've seen still stipulate how many hours you'll be expected to put in per week. It's not like they own you. – Weckar E. Mar 02 '17 at 13:28
  • @WeckarE. yea that's fair. I suppose I get this impression from the tech or finance work culture that pretty much expects you to work 60-80 hours a week. It may not be all the time but it's not unheard of. I see it in my friend's lives as well and a big part of me says "run away from that as far as you can" – noblerare Mar 02 '17 at 13:42
  • @noblerare Ask your employer before you start, "How long is the expected work week here?" Preferably get it in writing. – Brandin Mar 02 '17 at 13:55
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    I disagree with this being put on hold. The very last line is a direct question relevant to TheWorkplace that can be answered using sourced data, not just opinions (and in fact has been answered using a good source in the only current answer). – schizoid04 Mar 02 '17 at 16:33
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    The question shouldn't be "is it bad..." but should be more goal oriented. Then maybe it could be answered. – Brandin Mar 02 '17 at 18:32
  • isn't it written in your contract how much hours per week you have to work? the fact that you have monthly salary does not mean that there is no hours limit. We have to not be exploited. And I have worked in a job for more than 3 years as programmer where it was perfectly ok to work 39 hours a week. In other 2 jobs I also tried 40 hours, but they fired me for low productivity. So there is a risk of being fired, but there is still a chance to find company that fits this. – Will_create_nick_later Mar 19 '17 at 05:44
  • @Will_create_nick_later fired for working 40 hours? Did you have working hours stated in your contract? That would be a really expensive breach of contract for your employer if they fired you with 40 hours (or less) in the contract. – Juha Untinen Mar 19 '17 at 11:24
  • @JuhaUntinen - he did not tell exactly that he fired me for working 40 hours. He said that he fired for low productivity. And he gave me compensation for firing, so I am very happy to get it. I would not want to work in the company anyway if boss hates me for low productivity, I would feel too much stress, so I do not get into conflict. Plus I do not want to get a reputation of being conflict guy, because other employers might find out. – Will_create_nick_later Mar 21 '17 at 17:35

1 Answers1

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I think it's fair to say that you're not alone.

A 2013 report by the New Economics Foundation concluded that working shorter hours would leave people better able to balance their work and personal commitments, and ultimately be happier. A working week of around 30 hours was proposed as the ideal to shoot for, although others have argued that 21 hours a week is the ideal number.

-careeraddict.

At the same time, a study shows that you're probably only productive for around 3 hours a day.

It's bad in a sense that it sucks and it definitely effects one's morale to be attempting to work when simply not having the focus to do so. Some people may find it easier than others to get through the day when surpassing the ideal number of working hours

The number of working hours have already been reduced from ~60 hours in the early 1900s to ~40-44 today, depending on which numbers we're looking at. Some countries are looking at reducing the number of working hours down to 35 hours and France is an example of one that already has implemented the 35 hour work-week.

We can draw the conclusion that it's only normal for you to not wanting to work long hours but then we come to the latter part of your question. Some people, extroverts, have a constant need to be doing something. Social events can be one example of such things.

If you don't fall into that category its only normal for you to not wanting to do those things. Many people never show up for events outside work and they do fine within the workplace. You may decide to balance this and perhaps show up and leave very early, but in the end your feeling is only natural. I don't have any research to back this up at the moment but I've have been lectured somewhat on the difference between introverts and extroverts and how different scenarios effect them.

You may wish to become a contractor to control your hours more freely or try to break the workday up by getting small rests or have a little bit of fun, for example by reading a short article on a topic that you're interested in, if you feel like it helps you get through the day and perhaps results in more production overall.

You might wish to consider finding another job where you're more interested in the projects at hand in the end as it helps with focus up to a certain degree but of the day you have to realize that there's only so much the human mind can handle and it thrives in different scenarios depending on who you are. There's nothing wrong with you for sure.

If you're being forced to work way beyond what we already consider rather absurd you need to decide whether that's a life you wish to live or not, but it's definitely not healthy and will probably result in burnouts.

Conclusion: it's bad in a sense that it sucks, but it's only normal to feel the way you're feel. How you adapt to the situation is up to you.

Jonast92
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  • Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. This helps a lot. – noblerare Mar 02 '17 at 13:44
  • Perhaps, I'm not going to be the judge of that. However, many articles and researches showing that we're working too much. It can be debated how much less we should be working in order for maximum production but a specific number is not what I'm trying to point at. – Jonast92 Mar 20 '17 at 10:36