www.tanstaafl.co.uk

I just don’t get this attitude.

It seems that there is a group of people who think that anyone they employ should be devoted to their job to the exclusion of pretty much all else. Now I get that some people may love what they do and are happy to work a 72-hour week, but honestly, in the global scheme of things, that’s almost nobody. For a start there will often be “outside issues” that need time spending on them. You know, like family, socialising, hobbies, giving time back to the community (by volunteering, say). And I’d argue that some of the people who have such other interests are actually well-rounded individuals who have more to offer than someone who spends the vast majority of their life sitting in an office working or in bed asleep and has limited experience of the wider world, especially when commute time is added to work time.

I can only assume the demand is made because some people want to get rich off the back of other people having a less rewarding life than might otherwise be the case. Quite why they want to get rich, I’m not really sure. It’s not as though they actually have much to spend it on. Perhaps so their kids will inherit it when they die young of a heart attack and not have to grind their hours out working and can instead do things they find fulfilling?

I note the following quotes in the article:

This kind of approach has become extremely popular in the technology sector over the past few years, and for good reason

What “good reason”? Ahh, this one:

companies around the world are now working flat-out to develop ways in which it can be exploited and monetised.

So it is about money then. And then there’s this one from Jack Ma:

It’s not just entrepreneurs; most successful or ambitious artists, scientists, athletes, officials, and politicians work 996 or more”, he said in another.

So… Define “successful”. Money again?

I can’t help being reminded of a quote from Jimmy Carr who said that to be happy (which I would define as success) you need to decide what you really want. And if what you really want is money then you need to think again, because money is just “tokens”. Sure, those tokens can get you stuff that you might really want, but if you don’t know what it is you want, when do you know you can stop?