Work work work

Have been really busy lately and I feel weirdly run down, despite making a decision to cap my hours to about eight hours a day max. I guess I am still studying outside this time too, but it’s really interesting stuff I’m learning and I don’t blame it on study time. I think I just need some time off work, but my boss wont approve any leave and I have four days worth of hours that built up earlier in the year that I should be entitled to take off. He has this weird idea that people can just work for a long period of time without taking any time off, but then make up for it in one lot of annual leave at the end of the year. I don’t agree. I think people need a day off every now and then, to recharge.

I guess it’s good that he works so hard each day and abides by his own tough regime. I had lunch with a group of people I used to work with yesterday and my friend, Lisa, was telling me how she’s been working really long hours and isn’t allowed to take leave either – but worse still is that her boss takes time off all the time!, so his staff are left to do all the work themselves. That’s pretty mean. The problem is, with our work arrangements we can’t just take time off in their absence either because every bit of leave you take has to be signed off and you only get paid leave entitlements when the HR staff see your signed form.

Lisa was saying that it’s been a really long time since she had time off and she has been ill from stress. She had a car accident five years ago in which she hurt her neck and somehow the pains come back and she had to take five weeks off on sick leave – two of which she spent just lying in bed. She was saying if she had just been allowed some time off, she doesn’t think she would have had to go through that ordeal. I guess the stress of not being allowed to have time off impacts on your health.

Another friend, Jill, was telling me how the Communications Manager in her work place left the organization and, subsequently, she got lumped with all this girl’s work on top of her own duties, simply because she had a public relations degree and had the relevant skills. Jill is the sweetest girl and I guess part of the problem is that she isn’t able to say “no” and then people take advantage of her helpful attitude. For no extra pay, she carried on these additional functions, always expecting them to be taken off her when the position was filled…. but then the organization decided not to fill the position because Jill was doing such a great job. She was working until very late in the evening every day and it eventually took its toll on her health. Actually, she said everything in her life went downhill - her health, her relationships, her social life, etc…. she also had to take a long time off work on sick leave. Thankfully, she has just started a new permanent job elsewhere. I am so happy for her. Her departure would be such a huge loss for that company.

Why are some managers so unreasonable and have so little compassion for their staff? What is it about work that makes some managers want to work really long hours? Is it the money? Is it just that their lives are so broken outside that they sort of escape through hiding in their work? Do they realize how awful they are? Are their managers so awful that they’re just passing on the same quality of management down the line? I guess we work in a corrupt world where a lot of authority figures don’t honor God or live by Godly principles.

I am glad my manager isn’t really malicious or anything. He is actually a really nice guy. It’s just that work seems to be everything to him – he is 200% work – whereas normal people are 50% work and 50% life.