If you’re working 60-80 hour weeks and neglecting your family and friends, Craig Playstead has a message for you.
This post originally appeared at Shake Your Foundation
We’re the last generation of hard workers. This next generation cares a lot less about money than we did at their age. They care more about quality of life, which is the way it should be. If forced to work 80 hours a week, they’ll put on their flip-flops, laugh and quit. We sucked it up, stayed away from our families and did the work.
Then a lot of us got laid off.
This generation has also been raised believing they’re all “special” and that the world was created in their honor. There’s even stories of parents going with their adult aged kids to job interviews. The world has changed and we were the bridge. Our parents and grandparents worked themselves to the bone in a day and age where a deal existed between employer and employee: work hard for us and we will take care of your family. There were gold watches, pride and pensions. That deal is dead.
We’re just numbers now. Contractors. Hired help. We can quit any time we want and be laid-off when they want. The trust is gone. And that’s a big problem with our country that no one talks about: trust. American’s don’t trust politicians, don’t trust corporate America, don’t trust their banks and don’t trust their employers. If we had to build this country from scratch, we’d be screwed.
The message is that if you’re working 60-80 hour weeks and neglecting your family, friends and health; It’s time to realize the world has changed. You can still do a great job and have pride.
Work smarter, not harder.
For more from Craig Playstead, visit his blog, Shake Your Foundation.
Photo courtesy of Saad.Akhtar
John, totally agree. It’s what happens when a company goes public. They generally stop innovating and taking risks and are beholden to shareholders and forget their employees.
Amit – couldn’t have said it better myself.
Yeas, I totally agree with you. Trust in any institution is dead. It was a pretty strong feeling when I realized that we had been lied to all our lives. The only real question that can only be answered by us as individuals is – “How do I want to live my life?” . Everything else is a lie.
Craig you do raise some interesting points. Here is my take on this. I also belive that the Corporate world has also changed. I will give an analogy to demonstrate. I come you to and tell you I am getting a raise on friday and as my friend I am going to give you $20 as a gift. You are very happy. Friday comes and with much regret I tell you I can’t give you $20 , I can only afford to give you $10. Now as a private citizen you think, hey it is $10 more than I had,… Read more »