Why it is ok to leave a Tech Job at 5

[BiscuitintheBasket]

http://www.cnn.com/2...berg/index.html

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg recently set off quite a debate in the tech world when she told an interviewer that she works a 9-to-5 schedule:



"I walk out of this office every day at 5:30 so I'm home for dinner with my kids at 6, and interestingly, I've been doing that since I had kids," Sandberg said in a video posted on Makers.com. "I did that when I was at Google, I did that here, and I would say it's not until the last year, two years that I'm brave enough to talk about it publicly. Now I certainly wouldn't lie, but I wasn't running around giving speeches on it."



Here's the essential questions raised by the tech executive's comments and the debate that followed: In a competitive industry where your work is never truly complete, has it become socially awkward to leave work at a time that used to be the standard?



And are those working eight-hour days that end at 5 p.m. being quietly judged by their co-workers? Whatever happened to "work-life balance"? Worse still: Are those who work these "standard" hours being overlooked for promotions?







Pete Cashmore is the founder and CEO of Mashable.com.

Sandberg's timing would suggest that such biases exist. She only felt comfortable talking about her work hours once she had entered the highest levels of management.





What's clear is that many in the technology industry hope to take the shame out of having a balanced life. Mashable reader Dave Plantz said of Sandberg's story:



"Good for her! Life is way more important than work and I refuse to have to go to a funeral for a loved one before remembering that. I'll take family over developing the 'next big thing' anyway. I can always create new things, but I can't keep people forever."





Reader Jason Hunter added that we shouldn't hold different social norms for single people:

"But, let's forget about having family or being married for a minute. 5:30 as an on average time for going home should be acceptable for everyone -- single or not single ... family or no family -- assuming you don't come into the office everyday at 11 a.m."



The conversation reminds me of media mogul Arianna Huffington's thoughts on sleep: Not only do modern workers not get enough of it, but boasting about how little sleep you had last night has become a badge of honor. Those getting plenty of sleep must not be working hard enough, some assume.



And how about the blurred line between work and home life in the modern world? Sandberg admits that after dinner with her kids, she's back to checking e-mail -- it's clear that "being at work" is no longer necessary for "doing work."

The challenge here: Given that we're able to check our e-mail at all times, we assume that working at all times is the new social norm.



Ultimately, I think the measure of our work is in our productivity, not the number of hours we put in. Alas, few of us are in a position to change perceptions -- it's up to both employers and employees to make living a healthy life socially acceptable again.

I have always managed my staff that work-life balance is very important, healthy, and keeps one focused and on top of things. That productivity is the king measure not the hours it took. So get the shit done early, correctly, and documented before they walk out the door for the day.



If their daily tasks or progressions are completed by 3:30, and nothing else can be worked on that they can just enjoy the rest of the work day (explore things, etc), or leave. An amazing incentive that 90% of the people who have worked for me jump on (and get things done without hemming and hawing or dragging feet)...but there are always the slackers who usually live a year on my team and are moved to shit jobs.



With that said, I also remind them that they will not always get out on time, will need to work from home later or on weekends due to availablity of computers and systems. But with that comes comp time.

 

[winos5]

Now that my office has gone to electronic records I find myself completing work at home, after dinner or after the kids are asleep several times a week by choice. I'd rather do it at home than stay 45 minutes late at the office.

 

[IceHogsFan]

I have always managed my staff that work-life balance is very important, healthy, and keeps one focused and on top of things.

Golden words

 

[BiscuitintheBasket]

Now that my office has gone to electronic records I find myself completing work at home, after dinner or after the kids are asleep several times a week by choice. I'd rather do it at home than stay 45 minutes late at the office.

That is very much how I am and I learned that was a much better method of dealing with things. Quite frankly I find I can get more down at home in a shorter period of time and actually spend time with my family.



Obviously there are times when the workload is at a peak, but if resource and job management is done well those peaks are infrequent and the timing is known to allow for proper planning.





I never really understood the culture of getting in mega early and staying mega late meaning you are that much harder of a worker. I have seen guys burn out quickly that way and really just become mindless idiots. I lived that once and never want to go back.

 

[Ymono37]

That is very much how I am and I learned that was a much better method of dealing with things. Quite frankly I find I can get more down at home in a shorter period of time and actually spend time with my family.



Obviously there are times when the workload is at a peak, but if resource and job management is done well those peaks are infrequent and the timing is known to allow for proper planning.





I never really understood the culture of getting in mega early and staying mega late meaning you are that much harder of a worker. I have seen guys burn out quickly that way and really just become mindless idiots. I lived that once and never want to go back.

I'm getting the feeling the view of this type of behavior is actually changing - at least where I work, others assume those people suck at time management or are just fucking around for a large portion of the day.

 

[MassHavoc]

My boss lives here at work. First one in last one out. A good weekend for him is going over some work stuff. It's crazy, and he doesn't expect it from any of us and is very relaxed about what we do as long as we get the work done. Unfortunately he's here so much that it still tends to trickle down in a guilty type of culture.

 

[LordKOTL]

I think many jobs have different corporate cultures, and this can also vary along where in the world you work. Mine is generally more lax in that 8-hour shifts are the norm, overtime if needed is encouraged, but not mandatory. I know my wife's job is a little more pushy about the overtime and her schedule can change at the drop of a hat.



IMHO, at least in the part of the country, flexible schedules tend to make a place more inviting to work, and if the workplace is "high-powered" and doesn't maintain a good work-life balance for it's employees, the good ones gravitate away leaving the mediocre or bad ones to fill in, which doesn't help the business at all. But the flipside is that it seems most of those upper managers think that a lot of mediocre employees working long shifts can get the same results as a few good employees working shorter shifts.

 

[chasman]

I leave work at 2:30 , home by 3:00

Don't think about work unti 5:30 the next morning

 

[BigPete]

I heard some wise words once: if you can't get your work done in 8 hours, you are doing something wrong.



From a supervisory or management perspective, if your employees can't get their work done in 8 hours they are under-equipped (considering of course that they are just slackers).



Work life balance is the most important thing in the world. I try to remind my wife, who would otherwise be a work-aholic, of that principle on a regular basis.



Best thing I learned in the Army: if your team is tired or overworked or hungry or thirsty, they will be unhappy and unable to focus on the task at hand...that is when people get hurt or worse.

 

[LordKOTL]

I heard some wise words once: if you can't get your work done in 8 hours, you are doing something wrong.



From a supervisory or management perspective, if your employees can't get their work done in 8 hours they are under-equipped (considering of course that they are just slackers).



Work life balance is the most important thing in the world. I try to remind my wife, who would otherwise be a work-aholic, of that principle on a regular basis.



Best thing I learned in the Army: if your team is tired or overworked or hungry or thirsty, they will be unhappy and unable to focus on the task at hand...that is when people get hurt or worse.

Not always true. It could also be having a supervisor in an unrelated job field having fantastical expectations about how long a job is supposed to take in a technical field they know nothing about. That's not my case now but has been my case in the past.



In my case, if I can't get my work done in the budgeted time, I want to talk to someone that is, and find out what they are/aren't doing differently than I am. Then I look at the tools at my disposal and finally the expectations of myself. For the most part in my job, it's the last two--not the right tools for the task at hand and off-base expectations--usually from a couple of levels higher than myself.

 

[BigPete]

Not always true. It could also be having a supervisor in an unrelated job field having fantastical expectations about how long a job is supposed to take in a technical field they know nothing about. That's not my case now but has been my case in the past.



In my case, if I can't get my work done in the budgeted time, I want to talk to someone that is, and find out what they are/aren't doing differently than I am. Then I look at the tools at my disposal and finally the expectations of myself. For the most part in my job, it's the last two--not the right tools for the task at hand and off-base expectations--usually from a couple of levels higher than myself.

I was speaking idylically.

 

[LordKOTL]

I was speaking idylically.

Gotcha.