Poll of the Day > The work culture in North America sucks

(+) Yeah! (+)

Too little paid vacation time
Long hours
Making the rich richer

It's all so stupid!

Comrades! We need to rise up and demand 6 month paternity/maternity leave. 7 weeks paid vacation and a 1 hour paid lunch break.

Who is with me?!?!

^o.o^
---

St_Kevin posted...

Who is with me?!?!

*All of America*

---

I honestly think I would have a hard time taking that much time off. It would be great, but I have shit to do at work. I hate the feeling of work piling up.
---

Smarkil posted...

I honestly think I would have a hard time taking that much time off. It would be great, but I have shit to do at work. I hate the feeling of work piling up.

Why would the work pile up on you?
---

I work 7:30-3. Sometimes 4 if I feel like I need to. I also answer questions / emails at night if need be.

I will not work more than 8 hours a day. I do not see the "point". After a specific amount of time working on a problem you gotta step away and cool your head.

I will not work on weekends.

I have no issues with my 6 hours pto every other week. I'd like 8 hours every other week because I like flat numbers (and it would be cool if every other week had a 4-day weekend.
---

Work only sucks to me because I hate what I do

The people who do things they like are the lucky ones
---

St_Kevin posted...

Smarkil posted...

I honestly think I would have a hard time taking that much time off. It would be great, but I have shit to do at work. I hate the feeling of work piling up.

Why would the work pile up on you?

I'm in a salaried position such that there's no one that can really take over what I do without a good deal of training which would really only happen if I was replaced. So it's difficult for me to take off more than a week at a time.

I'm also on-call 24-7 which would be annoying if I did get called.
---

ReggieTheReckless posted...

The people who do things they like are the lucky ones

Here's a solution:

Do things that you like

It really is that simple, people act like they are locked down and then blame everything on why they can't leave.
---

mastermix3000 posted...

ReggieTheReckless posted...

The people who do things they like are the lucky ones

Here's a solution:

Do things that you like

It really is that simple, people act like they are locked down and then blame everything on why they can't leave.

Not blaming anything... But it's kind of hard to say that I'm willing to open a hotdog stand or become a pilot or a deep sea fisherman when I'm two months away from a masters in biomedical sciences/research and my future career path is basically limited to scientific R and D

Just saying. Sometimes you gotta do what pays the bills and you feel a bit envious of the people who though things through better and found something they love that also pays the bills
---

Judgmenl posted...

I work 7:30-3

What do you do / what company allows you to work less than 8 hours a day?
---

Are we talking the continent or the country?
---

Muffinz0rz posted...

Judgmenl posted...

I work 7:30-3

What do you do / what company allows you to work less than 8 hours a day?

if he's salaried he can work as much or as little as he wants as long as he gets his work done competently
---

Jen0125 posted...

if he's salaried he can work as much or as little as he wants as long as he gets his work done competently

damn I wish this was the only requirement, not complete, but as long as it looked competent to pass, you're good
---

Jen0125 posted...

if he's salaried he can work as much or as little as he wants as long as he gets his work done competently

Yup. I always make myself known for getting shit done faster and more competently than anyone else.
---

Judgmenl posted...

Jen0125 posted...

if he's salaried he can work as much or as little as he wants as long as he gets his work done competently

Yup. I always make myself known for getting shit done faster and more competently than anyone else.

By that statement, you're just referring to going to the bathroom, correct?
---

jsb0714 posted...

Judgmenl posted...

Jen0125 posted...

if he's salaried he can work as much or as little as he wants as long as he gets his work done competently

Yup. I always make myself known for getting shit done faster and more competently than anyone else.

By that statement, you're just referring to going to the bathroom, correct?

Yes. Yes that is exactly what I am saying.
---

Let's just kill off all small business

You sound like a commie
---

SmokeMassTree posted...

Let's just kill off all small business

You sound like a commie

Why does this idea seem to exist that small businesses need to underpay and overwork employees to survive???
---

just need to hire more part-time employees to cover for when people need vacation
---

I get 5 weeks plus another scheduled 8 holidays a year. I make good money too.
---

St_Kevin posted...

Making the rich richer

True of any job anywhere.

Jen0125 posted...

Muffinz0rz posted...

Judgmenl posted...

I work 7:30-3

What do you do / what company allows you to work less than 8 hours a day?

if he's salaried he can work as much or as little as he wants as long as he gets his work done competently

Bearing in mind that if you routinely clock out early, they can give you additional responsibilities or other work.
---

supervegito24 posted...

SmokeMassTree posted...

Let's just kill off all small business

You sound like a commie

Why does this idea seem to exist that small businesses need to underpay and overwork employees to survive???

Why does this idea seem to exist that small businesses underpay and overwork employees at all? Bearing in mind that the terms "underpay," "overwork," and "small business" are so subjective that they're almost meaningless.
---

I work for myself. I take as much work as I want, whenever I want, and the same goes for vacation.
---

Zeus posted...

Bearing in mind that if you routinely clock out early, they can give you additional responsibilities or other work.

if it's that type of business. if he works project based they may only have so much to give him. or like in my job we all set our own calendars and our workload is equitable. if my manager gets done early (he's salaried, we aren't) he can leave if he wants. or he can flex whenever or work from home.
---

Eh, I'm 50/50 on it.

For a while, I WANTED to work as many hours as I could. I regularly put in 55-65 hours a week. I just wanted to get away from the house and make some extra money.

Now, I'm happy only working 8 hours a day - it allows me to work my part time job on the weekends (which isn't really a job - more of a hobby).

Jen0125 posted...

if he's salaried he can work as much or as little as he wants as long as he gets his work done competently

It's 2pm, where did Tom go? Let's fire him and hire someone who stays around until 5pm. In a lot of salaried positions appearance often matters as much as productivity because employers generally suck.

Duck-I-Says posted...

It's 2pm, where did Tom go? Let's fire him and hire someone who stays around until 5pm. In a lot of salaried positions appearance often matters as much as productivity because employers generally suck.

i'm pretty sure judg works from home iirc
---

I get about 22 days paid vacation a year, but I rarely ever have time to take off work since if I take off for more than a day I'm spending several days catching back up when I return. If I take a whole week off I spend almost two weeks trying to catch up.

mastermix3000 posted...

Jen0125 posted...

if he's salaried he can work as much or as little as he wants as long as he gets his work done competently

damn I wish this was the only requirement, not complete, but as long as it looked competent to pass, you're good

Don't do what I did, and work my ass off for the first year at the company and now everybody just relies on me to get stuff done super fast and gets mad at me if I take as long as everybody else. Doesn't help that my boss is a workaholic. I get emails from him at 3am sometimes.

One thing I can definitely get behind is mandatory 1 hour lunch breaks. If your employer only gives you a half hour they're a greedy piece of shit

Duck-I-Says posted...

It's 2pm, where did Tom go? Let's fire him and hire someone who stays around until 5pm. In a lot of salaried positions appearance often matters as much as productivity because employers generally suck.

I don't fear losing my job. I takes like 3 months to get another Software Engineering position. If my work doesn't value me as an employee I don't see the point in working there anymore.

They value me because I am the software engineer that's been there the second longest in the company and the guy that's been there the longest is on his way out. I have knowledge on the product that nobody else has.
---

Judgmenl posted...

They value me because I am the software engineer that's been there the second longest in the company and the guy that's been there the longest is on his way out. I have knowledge on the product that nobody else has.

lol youve been working there for like two years

that company must be a real shit show
---

supervegito24 posted...

SmokeMassTree posted...

Let's just kill off all small business

You sound like a commie

Why does this idea seem to exist that small businesses need to underpay and overwork employees to survive???

Because they do?

Most small businesses can't afford to hire anybody, let alone give them full benefits and 160 hours of vacation time a year. As a result if you own a business you are usually working 80 hours a week. If you happen to get to a point where you can actually hire someone, then they are probably working at least 60 hours a week just so you can work only 60 hours a week as well. By the time you can be sustainable enough to only work 40 hours a week you are no longer a small business.
---

Smarkil posted...

Judgmenl posted...

They value me because I am the software engineer that's been there the second longest in the company and the guy that's been there the longest is on his way out. I have knowledge on the product that nobody else has.

lol youve been working there for like two years

that company must be a real shit show

A lot of Software Engineers have a short time at a company before finding another, two years is pretty typical, and 4 is around the average.

Granted, I am kind of an oddball, I have been working at my company for 10 years as of next month. However, I am far from the one who has been there the longest. The guy who sits next to be just celebrated his 27th anniversary a few months ago.
---

Smarkil posted...

Judgmenl posted...

They value me because I am the software engineer that's been there the second longest in the company and the guy that's been there the longest is on his way out. I have knowledge on the product that nobody else has.

lol youve been working there for like two years

that company must be a real shit show

That's like standard in the industry unless you're the old sage that has all of the info and have been working at the company since there were like 10 people in the annex of some building.
---

I love my job and I get unlimited overtime. Cri more.
---

Dikitain posted...

A lot of Software Engineers have a short time at a company before finding another, two years is pretty typical, and 4 is around the average.

Granted, I am kind of an oddball, I have been working at my company for 10 years as of next month. However, I am far from the one who has been there the longest. The guy who sits next to be just celebrated his 27th anniversary a few months ago.

I guess. All the devs I work with have been around for 10+ years.
---

It's expected that if you're younger you hop around jobs more often and that older people (Lets say 40+) try and find a more constant source of income as their not as marketable in the software engineering field. Younger engineers are more desirable but more volatile, where older devs like to keep things safe (generalizations of course).

All of this is based around getting into the higher pay brackets. You're more likely to get a raise going between jobs than via a yearly bonus. This year I got a pretty shitty raise but some amount of RSUs because the company doesn't want me to leave (as RSUs take several years to vest).
---

All this white-collar job talk is a little mystifying to me, to be honest.

I work 35-40 hours a week, but they're all on my feet (with no breaks). *shrugs* Doesn't really bother me any more.
---