Yes. Besides, no-one will get desperate for a job, because the unemployed get benefits that allow a reasonable living. Besdes, people working in a job are well protected; it is much, much more difficult and time-consuming for a company to fire anyone.
I’m not saying we live in paradise here; the Dutch system has its drawbacks, and I’ll be glad to elaborate on them if anyone wants to know.
But when I read about how hard and long the average American is required to work, and how little security he has because bankruptcy is just an accident or a lay-off away…I get the feeling you people are somehow fooled by the Man 
when you so fiercely believe you live in the best country there is, when in reality, the balance work/ leisure in every day life in other many European countries is, imho, better.
Ah yes, the “work/life balance”…even my husband’s company has paid such great lip service to such a concept. In fact, he has two weeks of vacation that he has to “use or lose” before the end of the year, vacation that he was denied the use of earlier in the year! Oh, and his company culture is that not only do you check in with the company via e-mail, etc., but you stop by the company during your vacation! (No idea what happens if you decide to use your time to actually, like, go somewhere! Heaven forbid!)
I’ve had it. I’m done with the whole system. It’s broken and it’s stupid. America means freedom my ass!
Is this gender difference due to law, or is it just how people’s preferences work out?
I work long hours at a good job so that I earn enough money that my wife doesn’t have to work. She wants to stay at home and spend full time as a mother / wife / homemaker. She’s got her college degree, but has no interest in full-time employment. I want her to be happy and, I confess, I like the arrangement too. I also think it serves our three young children very well.
It may be very cliche and very 50’s, but it works for us.
Definitely a cultural difference. We have far too many people, knowing that unemployment benefits would allow a reasonable living, who would abuse the system and remain unemployed. And we have far too many people who believe paying any benefit to the unemployed is too much (often using the excuse that most of the unemployed are gaming the system).
Please do elaborate. I need good reasons not to pick up and move to the Netherlands.
You don’t think that happens in other countries? Believe me, it does.
{Tamex}
That sounds hugely frustrating for you. Do you have any kind of exit strategy for this situation at all? It sounds like you’re not expecting it to get better even when your husband isn’t studying any more. Are there no different companies in your area which might be less insane? Does he know how this is making you feel?
I work long hours because I have to. I’m a senior person in a scientific/technical job and there isn’t anyone else to do what I do. Also, we’re chronically short staffed. Many people get here, can’t handle the workload or the town or the cold or the isolation and leave after a couple of months. Other people don’t like being on call. Personally, I like call. It pays extremely well and often I get to see some fucked up shit going on at the hospital. I also have a 3 year plan to pay off all my student debt, get a nest egg for a downpayment on a house, and have some money for going back to school. Another thing here is that there isn’t much to do besides go to the bar. I hate watching TV and I’ve seen every movie in town that I want to see. So there’s not a lot of point to having a bunch of time off.
Well, he used to work for my company, as a matter of fact. Then he decided he didn’t want to be an engineer anymore, and that he needed management experience, so he went for the MBA degree and this job. It wasn’t so bad until this new boss came online last month.
Here’s how bad it is…he just came home (only because he has a Cub Scout meeting) got a call on his cell from his boss, and shooed me out of the room as he took it because “she thinks I’m still at work”. Then he said he’d talk to me about it later and ran off to the meeting.
The original exit strategy was to let this company pay for his degree (something my company would not do) and then he would leave. However, that’s going to be five years from now, and I can’t stand it anymore.
I’d talk to him about it, but by the time he stops working (and he brings his laptop home, so that’s often until 11-12 in the evening) I’m already asleep. If we didn’t get along, it would be the perfect arrangement. It really came to a head around Thanksgiving, where he worked full days Friday and Saturday (both were supposed to be days off.)
Maybe there are better companies out there, but nobody’s hiring now.
I’m feeling kind of sick, and I know that’s making me crabby. I really do feel my mortgage and the need for health insurance as nooses around my neck, though. I just want to say “screw it”, quit my job, and hole up in a cabin in the mountains. Well, that or move to the Netherlands.
I’m a business owner, so I put in 60-80 hour weeks typically.
But even if I weren’t the owner, in my industry (advertising), long weeks aren’t that unusual. You have to work till the project is done, and you have to meet the deadline. It’s demanding work, but it pays well too.
The huz doesn’t love the hours I put in, but he knows that’s the cost of owning a business. We work it out.
I’ve just started teaching this year and I’m putting in nearly 100 hours/week. I love it, but it does need to get better next year or I’ll explode.
And I’m sure it will.
I’ve had several careers before this one and the truth is if you’re interested in what you’re doing it takes time, your time, lots of it. If you’re worried about being exploited by your employer you’re not doing the right job. Quit work, do something you want to do. Stop complaining, please.
I’ve been working a lot of long hours for weeks now. The reason? Way too much work, and way too short deadlines to get all done by. Frankly, I hate it.
Ed
When I did it, it was only for the money. I was hourly at the time so it really added up. I’m salaried now and there’s no way I’d work over my normal 40 except under extreme circumstances.
I just got off a job that required me to work 12 to 20 hours a day, 7 days a week. That was actually pretty fun.
Why the long hours? The subject matter was very important to me. Also, that’s simply what it took to get the job done in the allotted time.
It definitely wasn’t the money. I haven’t done the math to see what I’d have been getting paid hourly, but I…oh hell…
Um…carry the 4…divide by pi…
Only about 4 dollars an hour.
Several reasons. First, I simply love my job. As of right now, the next step up is nonexistant, but I enjoy what I do. I am constantly learning something new, and it’s different every single day.
Second, so my husband won’t have to. He’s needed more elsewhere: he takes care of the children and his mom. We have one child who is type 1 diabetic, and he goes to school every day for her lunch to make sure she has her BG check and her insulin. He’s also on call in case something happens at school, like a BG spike or fall, or if a child falls down and hurts themselves. His mom does not get around very well, so he has to help her up, run errands, cook meals, and everything else.
I see from** D_Odds’s **profile he is an “investment management consultant”. I’m not sure exactly what that is, but generally any one of those terms translates to long hours.
When I was in management consulting, I worked long hours because pretty much I had to. Everything is project based and you are evaluated on how many hours you bill to a client. You work long hours if you can, often to compensate for the time off between projects.
Why work in that field? Well it’s interesting for one. I like working with smart, motivated people on interesting, intellectually challenging projects. I also like being able to change clients every now and then. And some of the perks are nice too like client dinners at Smith & Wolynskis or box seats at Yankee Stadium.
When I was younger in more technical consulting, I think the motivation was a little different. Those companys tended to be peopled with nerds who just liked writing code all day and didn’t have much of a social life outside of work anyway. 5, 6, 7, 8+ o clock roles around and they are still at their desks typing away. It became more or less expected so if you wanted to work there, you had to stay as long as everyone else. Probably why those companies enjoyed 20% turnover until 2001 when everyone decided to outsource all that crap anyway.
Problem is you get burned out. It’s a constant race to make manager/director/partner and each level you have a bunch of insensitive douchebags Blackberrying you every 10 minutes with some bullshit that “has to get done right away”.
I don’t work that much any more since I took a regular corporate job. Pretty standard 9-5 mid-level management tech strategy job in a big insurance company.
It’s really super-boring though and I can’t bear being around my coworkers.