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Browsing tag: work

  • March 22, 2011

    Work-life balance: Outdated? Achievable? A pipe dream?

    The things I love about working in the online space also make it terrible for work-life balance. The immediacy, the connectivity, the multimedia – it all makes it difficult to disengage and switch off. Like me, some of you have a bit of an internet addiction personally; add to that at least 40 hours a week for work and it quickly gets exhausting.

    I’m still holding out. I don’t have a smartphone myself (I drop my phones a lot and I refuse to pay the exorbitant data prices we’re charged in NZ), nor do I have one for work (I’ve always figured once that happens, you’re always expected to be reachable).

    Yes, working in online, the hours can be awful, and like many other fields, longer for those higher up the chain. Even those lucky enough to have something close to a 9-5, Monday to Friday schedule, know they can be called in anytime.

    None of the women in my department have kids. I don’t think this is a coincidence. I’m still years upon years away from even thinking about babies, but it is certainly food for thought.

    Balance is something that’s really important to me. Or at least striving for it. This is a “passion” job, although like I’ve said, I certainly don’t wake up rearing to go. I wouldn’t want to be in any other industry at this stage, but money aside, I’d rather work less and spend more time pursuing my other interests. I happily put in overtime as needed, but I refuse to let work be my life. Or my life be work. It’s something that’s easy to get sucked into, and something I see in others in this industry.

    Or is work-life balance increasingly a remnant of the past? I occasionally check in on the #u30pro Twitter chat; it’s aimed at young professionals, and most of the participants seem to work in media-related roles. I find all the talk of “authenticity” a bit tiring, but one of the things I’ve observed is that not many think balance is realistic – or even desirable. Which I think is most commendable, but there have got to be limits.

    Where do you fall on the spectrum? Are you expected to be available outside hours? Is switching off easy/feasible/desirable?

  • March 16, 2011

    Not in a million years

    I have decided one thing: Full body massages are not for me. They are equally as ticklish (and occasionally painful) as they are pleasant. I’ll stick to facials and back massages, thanks.

    But lying there with my face in the hole, I got to thinking about jobs I could never perform.

    Examples:

    Massage therapist. I just don’t have the strength and stamina. I get tired after about 10 minutes of giving T a backrub. Plus, it’s just very…intimate. Not my style.

    Hairdresser. I cannot stand on my feet all day. I tell you, after a couple of hours at a concert, my back feels like it’s on fire. Imagine 8 hours of that!

    Driver. Taxi driver, bus driver, chauffeur…anything that involves driving.

    Sales. Nope. No way. Never.

    Actor: I’m far too self-conscious, and not very good at pretending.

    Anything that involves working with sick or injured people. Blood, wounds, dislocated limbs…I’m a wuss. You can probably also add to that anything that involves working with dead bodies.

    How about you? Or do you think you could turn your hand to practically anything?

  • January 31, 2011

    If you’re gonna brag make sure it’s your money you flaunt; depend on no one else to give you what you want

    <via>

    My dad once asked me what I valued most in the world. He asked me to write it down and give it to him. (He’s odd like that.)

    I never did. Not because I resented my parents (which was often true back then, let’s be honest) but because I really didn’t know.

    His earlier question was easy enough to answer. What is the most important thing?

    Love, of course.

    My brother went for Truth, by the way.

    But this one…I thought about it. And I could not come up with a definitive answer.

    A while later, he called me out on it. You never gave me a reply, he said. But I think I know what it is. You value your independence, more than anything else.

    The plan was always to leave home upon graduating from high school and starting university. I ended up leaving a year and a half before that. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t planned that way. It was messy, conspicuous and no doubt caused gossip among the neighbours. And a lot changed for me after that. To the casual observer, it might seem that I might as well just have moved back in.

    But it went much deeper than that. Barring major catastrophe, I know that I will never again live with my parents. I will do whatever it takes to stand on my own two feet. Even accepting a graduation gift (cash) from them was very difficult to come to terms with. I never ask for help  (and I am aware that is not always something to be proud of, by the way); I find ways to manage on my own.  I have given a lot to BF, but never to the point of jeopardising my own stability. A little part of me has an irrational fear of ending up on the street (although I know it won’t happen). It’s why I’m so set on having a solid emergency fund in the bank.

    Eventually, I realised he was right. The funny thing was, he knew me better than I knew myself. We may have very little in common, but some things, I suppose, are passed down.

    Independence. Essentially, that was, I think, the root of all our problems. The result: I became fully independent earlier than I bargained. And I embraced it. I was born for it. To make my own decisions, to answer to myself.

    Now I’m starting to wonder, can one ever be truly independent working for someone else? I love having a steady job, great colleagues, regular pay. I love not having to chase payments or seek out clients.

    I read a lot of blogs. Some touch on, or even focus on, escaping the 9-5 and lifestyle design. I’m also following a lot of blogs about freelancing, particularly in the writing field. At this stage, that’s not for me. In fact, freelancing is slowly starting to take up more and more of my time…and I’m going to have to draw a line in the sand.

    But increasingly I’m wondering: Should this be something I actively work towards? I’m not saying never, especially as I don’t know if I’d want to work full time when we have kids one day…but is putting most of my eggs in the employee basket going to hurt in the long run?

    What are your thoughts? Is working for a corporation ever the best answer?

  • January 20, 2011

    The ‘job-that-you-wake-up-excited-for’ propaganda

    job that you wake up excited for

    Modified CC image, original by Flickr user noodlepie

    I’ve got to say, I’m a little tired of people advocating for us all to go out and find our dream jobs. Jobs that you wake up excited to go to. Jobs that you sit bolt upright in bed in the middle of the night grinning about at the sheer thought of. Jobs that you would happily pay to do. (Don’t you know that nothing less will do?!)

    Surely I can’t be the only one who can’t think of a job that fits this description. No matter how awesome, ultimately a job is a job.

    I get disproportionately excited over little things. Dessert. (Heck, almost anything to do with good food). The way the sky looks at sunset. A good hair day. And these bursts of excitement are sharp, yet short. But I don’t actually wake up excited for anything, barring a concert or maybe a trip away somewhere. Least of all, work (although there are days when I can actually gush “I love what I do”). And yet, my job is, more or less, my ideal job. Meanwhile, I freelance ultimately not so much for the love of writing but for the experience and money.

    I “followed my passion”. So where is this soul-shaking, ear-to-ear grinning, electrifying feeling? Did I go wrong somewhere along the way? Or…is this increasingly popular concept simply setting the vast majority of us up for disappointment?

    I know the mantra goes “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”. I always knew I would work with words; that was what I enjoyed, and what I excelled at. But sometimes, the sheer fact that you are doing what you supposedly love, eventually takes away something from it. (This hasn’t really happened, but I feel sure that this would be the case with any other path. Heck, I fell so out of love with guitar I stopped playing for three years, because I made it too much like work. I got frustrated with my lack of technical progress and lost sight of why I started in the first place).

    Would I be happier doing something else on a day-to-day basis? No. And nobody would pay me for any of my hobbies either, be it amateurish baking or photography or travel. Sure, I could try to turn any one of those things into a job too, but why would I? That would suck the simple pleasure out of it. For example, I don’t want to rebrand myself as a travel writer; the places I want to go are, honestly, places other people have been to millions of times before and written about.  Also, I wish to enjoy my travels, not spend time thinking about story angles and making pitch after pitch. And becoming a location-independent nomad isn’t a lifestyle I want to pursue.

    It’s a little depressing when I talk to harried colleagues who are looking desperately forward to their next holiday (“As long as I’m not here!”). I’m not at that stage, THANKFULLY, and pray I never will be: but honestly, if I could choose to come into work only when I felt like it, you can bet I wouldn’t be there five days a week.

    I’ve said plenty of times that I can’t imagine what people do in retirement. I mainly said those things while I was a stretched-thin student with no time for myself. No time to rediscover doing things just for me, just for the sake of enjoyment. Going to a 40-hour work week has enabled me to live a much more balanced, healthy and sane life. I do get professional satisfaction through my work, but equally (and perhaps more importantly) I get personal satisfaction through the interests and relationships I devote my spare time to.

    I never thought I’d say this, but I think I could happily live the life of a lady of leisure, if such a lifestyle could be funded. I have so many books to read. Songs to learn. Movies to watch. Recipes to try. Places and friends to visit. I might work or volunteer a couple of days a week, and that would be enough for me. Doing exactly what I want, when I want. I don’t believe that’s in any job description, though 😉

    I may have veered a bit off topic here but I think you get the point I’m trying to make. Enjoying my work is important, but I know I’m not the only one who thinks that loving your job wholeheartedly is a bit of a myth. (And for those who might see fit to chime in with “why don’t you work for yourself instead?” I will point you here courtesy of Paranoid Asteroid.) I also value a job that I can mostly leave behind when I leave the office, stability, decent pay, low stress levels, autonomy and regular working hours. And if you’re one of the people like T, who hasn’t “found their passion” and have read Barbara Sher, you’ll be familiar with the concept of the “good enough” job, which pays well, doesn’t demand too much of you and allows you to pursue your interests in your spare time. And there is nothing wrong with that, either.

    No doubt there are plenty of people out there who loathe their work, and are stuck for one reason or another. I just wish the propaganda machine would tone down the selling of a somewhat unrealistic myth – Gen Y rhetoric, IMO, overstates expectations of the “perfect” job, which I find hard to swallow. (Don’t we already face enough pressures to create the ultimate existence – great friends, great love life, great sex life, great body, etc?) By all means, PURSUE THE DREAM, but don’t feel like a failure if it doesn’t actually have you leaping out of bed in the mornings and screaming from the rooftops every day.

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  • November 22, 2010

    On being a woman in publishing

    I’d like to think that as both a woman and an ethnic minority, I’m pretty lucky. I’ve never experienced sexual harassment and I haven’t experienced any discernible discrimination in my career.

    Granted, I graduated less than a year ago; this is really only the beginning for me. I’m 22, working in a sub-editing role in online media; although I’ve only held my title since earlier this year, I’ve worked in the biz in one way or another for 3-plus years. Heck, if you count all the unpaid writing I did for various websites throughout high school, we could take it back to 2002! Oh, and although you probably know this already, entry level starts from $30k (perhaps not so much in Auckland, but certainly in smaller towns).

    Unlike, say, engineering or IT, media/publishing is pretty evenly split gender-wise. Going into third year journalism, it was definitely female heavy, but balanced out by a large proportion of post-grad male students (we shared virtually all our classes).

    As women, do we have any advantages in the field? Perhaps some people may be more inclined to talk to young, pretty things. I can imagine it might be a plus in a situation like a doorknock (after a death); we’re often perceived as being more sensitive, less threatening, less hard-talking.

    I’ve certainly noticed a dearth of females in more senior and management roles. The exception would probably be more on the magazine side (especially in lifestyle/fashion titles, obviously). No surprise there really; it’s a workforce-wide issue. This isn’t a 9-5 job – unless you’re a business writer, maybe – and not super-conducive to work-life balance.

    One thing that’s always bugged me is that a friend of mine, whom I got a job here, was hired about six months after me at a higher rate. I got a raise and promotion earlier this year, and again, six months later, the same happened for him – again at a higher rate. Now, I’m not talking huge amounts…more like 50c-$1 per hour. But I’d really like to know if this is a matter of timing, or if this actually was a case of gender discrimination at play.

    TV is a bit of a different beast. It doesn’t take much to realise that much like in Hollywood, age is definitely a barrier for women in TV news. (As for ethnicity, we won’t even venture there). Ex-journalist Janet Wilson caused a bit of a furore earlier this year when she blogged on the matter, accusing female telly reporters of being “all tits and teeth” while, looks and age aren’t, perhaps, so much factors for men.

    But from my limited experience and observations, I don’t feel there’s any inherent bias against women in publishing. It’s about working your connections. It’s about tenacity. It’s about dedication. This is perhaps where some females (like myself) might struggle a bit; you need to be pushy sometimes, there’s no room for shame or shyness. Ultimately, your success will come down to your personality and how much you’re willing to put into your work.

    How about you? Have you been a victim of discrimination; are you forced to work harder to prove yourself or is your industry pretty darn egalitarian? Share your experiences in the comments.

    “If I were a Boy” Carnival

    This post is part of a series of bloggers sharing their candid experiences or observations about women in the workplace which is not at all meant to be a male-bashing expedition whatsoever.

    Please head over to these other wonderful bloggers and read about their experiences.

  • November 10, 2010

    When schedules clash…

    “I’ll take Saturday off if you take Saturday off.”

    That’s what he said to me, after a short discussion on how we don’t have enough time to spend with each other.

    But me taking Saturday off is not the same as him taking Saturday off. Saturday is a regular working day for me, and not for him. Saturday is an 8-hour day for me, and if he chooses to work Saturday, it’s usually a 6-hour day.

    Me taking Saturday off means missing out on a day of double pay; for him, it just means giving up extra “nice to have” cash.

    Here’s a little overview of our usual working schedules and how they mesh:

    (His working hours are 6-2, but they often work til 5. 11-hour days, eek!)

    At least two weekday nights are usually a write off for me due to other commitments. He’s also usually out late one or two nights himself, often on completely different nights. The only blocks of time we really get together for sure are weekend mornings. And that’s why it bugs me when he works Saturdays.

    The job that he nearly got before this job would have seen him working the night shift, and would have actually meant more time together (four mornings a week!) Despite that, and the money, I’m kind of glad he didn’t; it would have been quite disruptive and no doubt terrible for his already irregular eating patterns. Not to mention those four mornings would be a tradeoff for basically no waking hours together on the other three days of the week.

    Yeah, it’s a pain not having any regular days off together. It means rushed Sunday morning grocery shopping. It means sometimes coming home to a snoring boyfriend and a kitchen full of rubbish and dishes. It means no spontaneous weekend trips.

    But it’s a career move, and it means a difference of up to $10k (or more) over a year. I’m going to make the most of it while I can.

    Now, I’m sure I’m not the only one out there working conflicting/opposing schedules to their other half. How do you manage your time effectively?

  • November 7, 2010

    Guest post: From student to 9-5 worker

    My Cubicle @ Work

    Image by Vincent Ma via Flickr

    When I graduated last fall I was one of the very few from my class to get a job straight out of college. And while I was thankful — the money in my pockets made me grin — I wasn’t truly “happy.” I was tired all the time. I missed my friends and family that I was forced to leave behind. And that 9 to 5 schedule? Yeah— it got real monotonous real quick.

    Let me be the first to say that the transition from college student to the working life can be difficult. But it’s different for everyone. While some can adapt more quickly, others linger in that weird limbo stage of being a half-grown up, half-student. But there are some ways to make the transition a little easier. Below are some points recent grads need to watch out for and some ways to deal if you’re caught between both the student and professional world.

    Rigid Schedule
    In college most students tailor their class schedules to meet their own personal needs. (Ed – I missed out on this, and resent it! Damn you AUT and your inflexible Communications courses.) You’re not a morning person? No problem. You can simply take a class in the afternoon. You like to have lots of breaks to take naps? No problem. You can spread your classes sporadically throughout the day. The point is, students are used to doing things on their own time and to their own liking. Once you enter the professional world however, this changes. You will have a strict schedule of how long your lunch break is and when you need to arrive to work. And don’t think that if you arrive to work just a few minutes late that your boss will let it slide like your professor—you could be “written up” for your infraction. Too many and you can get fired.

    Get Some Sleep
    So why were you late in the first place? Did you stay up till 4am drinking beers with your buddies or lose track of time tuning-in on the Family Guy marathon? In college you may have been able to stay awake till all odd hours of the night and stagger into class in your pajamas the next morning, but you can’t do this in the professional world. You need to be able to present yourself in a professional manner everyday and must come to work energised and clear-headed so that you can focus and do what your bosses are paying you to do—your job.

    How are you going to successfully accomplish your tasks at hand if you’re falling asleep at your desk? Do your best to get the standard 6 to 8 hours of sleep. It might be difficult at first but try to make set a sleep schedule. For example, you go to bed at midnight and wake up at 7am everyday. If you are a heavy sleeper, by all means set more than one alarm to get yourself going in the morning. But chances are if you stick with your schedule your body will build an eternal alarm clock and you will start waking up on time on your own.

    Eat Right
    Even if you do get an adequate amount of sleep, sometimes your body can get tired because you are dehydrated or you are not nourishing your body with the proper nutrients and vitamins. With that said, you collegiate diet of Ramen Noodles and boxed macaroni and cheese needs to go. If you don’t have time to cook, try to make smart food choices when going out to eat, loading up on energising fruits and veggies such as apples, pears and dark leafy greens such as broccoli and spinach. Avoid dehydrating drinks such as soda and alcohol and consume more water.

    Make New Friends
    Part of the reason the transition is so hard is because you miss your college friends. While this can make things difficult you can always make new friends. A good place to start is at the workplace. Your coworkers are the ones who will not only make coming to work every day more pleasant but will give you praise for your achievements and promotions and will encourage you to stay strong if times get rough.

    Have Fun
    Remember that just because you may feel like you’re a 40-year-old because your new schedule forces you to go to bed by midnight that doesn’t mean that you are. You’re young and it’s important that you still find time to have fun. There is no rule that says you can’t continue to do the things you found enjoyable in college such as dancing, drinking or playing video games till 5 a.m. Just try to save these activities for the weekend so that it does not interfere with work.

    This guest post is contributed by Kate Willson, who writes about top online colleges.

  • October 29, 2010

    It’s all about timing.

    John Harrison's famous chronometer

    Image via Wikipedia

    Office discussions recently revealed that while the majority of us are paid fortnightly, there were an unlucky few who had to live on monthly. That minority, of course, felt shortchanged. In one case, they were urged to talk to HR and ask to be moved to a fortnightly cycle.

    Sounds reasonable enough. Right?

    But it’s never that simple. I could’ve told you that. The time for negotiations is BEFORE you start the job. Before you sign on the dotted line. Once the contract is done and dusted, they are not going to be very receptive to making changes.

    The company policy is for monthly pay (I guess it’s much easier for payroll to only have to deal with paychecks 12 times a year). All new staffers have this in their contracts, and it’s up to them to speak up if they want that condition changed.

    So this coworker tried. She asked HR to switch her over. They were not very receptive. They wanted a reason. “Changes in personal circumstances” wasn’t deemed good enough – they didn’t see how being paid more frequently would help her out.

    This is not a judgement on HR in any way. I can totally see their viewpoint – you’ve managed this long on monthly and it’s going to be a headache to alter that.

    What I’m actually trying to get at is that it’s up to YOU to negotiate at the appropriate stage. It may seem HR is being unnecessarily difficult or stubborn, but you signed over your power a long time ago.

  • August 30, 2010

    The colleagues you love to hate

    Every office has one. The scapegoat. The hated one.

    At mine, we’re blessed with two. One is just, shall we say, lazy. And incompetent. The other has no sense of personal space. You know what I’m talking about. Hovering over your shoulder, breathing practically into your face, slapping you on the back, somehow accidentally stepping on your foot as you converse in the hallway – even though you’re standing FACING each other.

    It’s a little easier to deal with when everyone else is around. You roll your eyes, sigh and get on with it. But there are times when it’s just the two of you holding down the fort. Those are the days I dread.

    I try to bite my lip and grit my teeth, but everytime colleague 1 calls my name, I want to scream. You know how little kids call out “Mu-um!!” in that whiney, demanding tone? That’s EXACTLY how he addresses me. Or maybe it’s not, and I’m just projecting my feelings onto him because it’s always followed up by a request to pawn bum work off onto me.

    What are your tips for dealing with difficult workmates?

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  • August 27, 2010

    A sign of maturity, or insanity?

    magic of the holidays 9: the river of light
    Image by jmtimages via Flickr

    Thanks to Stacking Pennies, I recently found out that at Netflix, workers get to take as many holidays as they want.

    “Employees … were responding to emails on weekends, they were solving problems online at home at night. And every so often, they would take off an afternoon to ferry a child to the paediatrician or to check in on an ageing parent.

    “Since Netflix wasn’t tracking how many hours people were logging each work day, these employees wondered, why should it track how many holidays people were taking each work year? “

    In my industry – and many others I’m sure – the line between work and non-work is blurring. Thanks, technology.

    At this stage, I don’t really mind it. If I want to go above and beyond on my own time, then I will. I’ll do it for the benefit of the company that employs me, because I want us to be the best at what we do. Perhaps if I was regularly expected to, this might start to chafe. But for now, that’s not the case.

    By law, we are entitled to four weeks (which is more than fair – add in public holidays and it’s quite a lot of time off IMO). Also, business for us doesn’t stop on public holidays – there’s always someone rostered on, so there’s the opportunity to earn extra days in lieu. And barring last year, when the company decided that holding so much accrued leave was uneconomical in a recession and forced us all (even me, a very part-time worker/student at the time) to take time off, any way we want to schedule leave is generally fine.

    When I first started working, I thought four weeks off every year sounded like an eternity. Bear in mind that yes, we got summers off and at least three other breaks with a minimum of two weeks during the year during uni. But I had to work all of those periods. Bills don’t stop. Rent doesn’t stop. I didn’t have the luxury of taking off on trips. the last time I had any extended period of time off was the summer between high school and uni when I worked only a couple of days a week and spent the rest broke and bored out of my mind.

    I’ve been working full time since November, and I still haven’t taken any real leave. I had a long weekend in February, and I’ve worked every single weekend since then on my new schedule. I’m planning to take the weekend before T’s birthday in September off, and a couple of weeks around Christmas. I don’t care if we don’t go anywhere amazing – I just need a breather.

    So while I love the idea of such a flexible environment ala Netflix, I just don’t know if it would work in my office. It’s already difficult enough to manage a seven-day roster (and coverage for 14plus hours a day) with people taking their annual allotment of leave throughout the year. Can you imagine the carnage that would ensue in a free-for-all?

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