Wednesday, November 06, 2019

Work life balancing act





Sometimes in the 1990’s

Employee one: Whine whine whine whine
Employee two: Gnash, Gnash, Gnash
Employee three: Sob, Sob, wail, whimper, wails of despair…
Employee four: No work life balance, stressed, tired, burnt out, heavy sighs etc etc.

Management across the world decided to change the work week from six days to five days

Employee one: Yay!
Employee two does cartwheels, end up spread-eagled and is rushed to the hospital: Yipeeee!!!
Employee four: At last! Someone has heard the groans of the over worked underpaid employee!!
Employee four: Two-day weekends! This is too good to be true.

A couple of years later

Employee one: Grumble, grumble, grumble
Employee two: What can you do with a two-day weekend!!! Wail…
Employee three: I can barely recover from a tough week in two days sob
Employee four: No work life balance, stressed, tired, burnt out, heavy sighs etc etc.

A decade later management across the world decided to change the work week from five days to four days

Employee one: Yay!
Employee two does clicks his heels midair, end up spread-eagled and is rushed to the hospital: Yipeeee!!!
Employee four: THERE IS A GOD!!!  THERE IS A GOD!!! THERE IS A GOD!!!
Employee four: Three-day weekends and four-day work week! This is utopia. An employee dream come true! I will love my work so much now!

A couple of years later

Employee one: I am EXHAUSTED! I do in four days what I did in five groooaaaannnnn aaarrghhh I am dying of exhaustion!
Employee two: I am barely alive by Thursday. I wish I had another day to finish the week's work. Then I would really enjoy my weekend.
Employee three: I am sprinting to complete my work. It was so much better paced when it was a 5-day week sigh
Employee four: No work life balance, stressed, tired, burnt out, heavy sighs etc etc.

Some time after that, managements across the world give up on trying to please employees and do what’s best for the company.

Employee one: Whine whine whine whine
Employee two: Gnash, Gnash, Gnash
Employee three: Sob, Sob, wail, whimper, wails of despair…
Employee four: No work life balance, stressed, tired, burnt out, heavy sighs etc etc.

Management: Pffffft







5 comments:

Anonymous said...

If my current long weekends are any indication, a mandated three day weekend will just lead to me still complaining on Mondays about not getting anything done over the weekend. Seriously, it's impossible to find the time to do anything when you're busy doing nothing.

Jackson

wanderlust said...

I was writing a piece about blogging in the 2000s, and wondered about your blog (I was a follower back in the day)... and you're still here and kicking! This made my day :)

flaashgordon said...

i had a sudden,unexplainable urge to check your blog page, and there you are with a day old post! Would you believe it? Just like 15 years back !

I guess 4.5 day weeks are the best. Take it easy/ work from home on fridays kind. Though alternate Fridays off would be great ! Exhausted now!

silverine said...

Jackson: That just about sums up the situation lol
wanderlust: Ouch, you make me feel like a fossil with that "blogging in the 2000's" comment lol. Nice to see you buddy, you made my day!
flaashgordon: Thank god for your sudden unexplainable urge :-)) Alternate Fridays sounds good actually. Thanks buddy for checking up on me. Miss your blogs, hope you pick up the pen again.

scorpigle said...

Dropped on your site almost after a decade. Good to see you kicking