This blog post confirms my opinion that there's no such thing as "work-life balance" any more. You are expected to work 24 hours a day & then some more. Heck, if there would've been 48 hours in the day, then we humans would've been required to work 48 hours.
It's ironic that how humans always create problems for themselves by themselves. Computers were invented by us, humans, to relieve us from work & have more "work-life balance," but now, you are considered as a good, diligent worker, if you are working with the same speed & energy, as the damn machine.
Now, the next level of machine automation is AI (Artificial Intelligence) & Internet of Things, where machines can talk to one another, & perhaps, perform & learn things on their own, freeing the humans to do other more strategic things.
But, then the question arises that if the machine is learning on its own & we all know that it can learn much more in quantity at a much better speed, then where does that leave us, humans? A human brain can't compete with a processor in speed & memory, esp. when it doesn't even need a human to input data in it; it is learning on its own.
Why would a business, which will of course, always try to reduce its costs, through efficiency & effective procedures, will hire people to crunch data or perform accounting work or draw engineering drawings & etc. etc.? Robotics & machines equipped with AI can & will do all that work & much more at a much faster speed at fraction of a cost of a human, & with much more efficiency & effectively.
What will be happening on the streets of developed countries then, when millions of young & old, who spent ages in studying & getting degrees, are unemployed & have no money to put food on their dinner tables? I think anyone can imagine the chaos in the cities, then.
At the moment, it is a mere "inconvenience" to work more than 40 hours for people, compared to where our society is headed. Then, working 50, 60, or 70 hours will seem nothing when your choices will be (assuming a worker will have a choice) to either work at the same speed as that machine at a much lower salary (hey, that machine doesn't even need any salary to support anyone) or leave the company.
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The phrase “nine to five” is becoming an anachronism.
About half of all managers work more than 40 hours a week, according to a new survey from tax & consulting firm EY, & 39% report that their hours have increased in the past 5 years. Little wonder, then, that one-third of workers say it’s getting more difficult to balance work & life.
The survey, which fielded opinions from 9,699 full-time employees in 8 countries, raises some questions about the sustainability of the current pace of work, said Karyn Twaronite, who heads up diversity & inclusion efforts for EY & commissioned the study.
Employees report that their responsibilities at work have increased while wages have largely stayed flat. And while technologies like company-provided smartphones & remote-work software have bought workers some flexibility, they also keep “people tied to work 7 days a week,” Ms. Twaronite noted.
58% of managers in the US report working more than 40 hours a week, surpassed only by managers in Mexico, where 61% say they’re working those hours. By comparison, just over a third of UK managers & under a fifth of managers in China report working beyond 40 hours.
The reported shift in working hours appears to hit parents particularly hard. Some 41% of managers who have kids say they’ve seen their hours increase in the last 5 years, as compared to 37% of managers who do not have children. Working women & parents also rated the task of managing their work & personal lives as slightly more difficult than men & those without children, but respondents of both genders & all generations reported that they’re feeling the crunch. (That study also had some surprising findings about the Millennial generation as working parents.)
What’s making it so hard to navigate career & family? Participants blame flat salaries & rising expenses, along with the increased workload. Managers in the US say they have a hard time getting enough sleep, finding time for themselves & handling more responsibility.
That finding suggests corporate leaders need to think more about employees’ well-being, Ms. Twaronite said.
“There really isn’t any downtime any longer where people could sign off for the day & be done,” she said. “You can be done for the day but it will be morning in China & you need to be responsive to that.”
Some companies tout flexible scheduling–letting workers leave early or take off Fridays, for example—as one remedy. But some US workers say flex arrangements are an imperfect solution. Some 9% said that they have “suffered a negative consequence as a result of having a flexible work schedule,” such as being passed over for a promotion or losing a job.
It's ironic that how humans always create problems for themselves by themselves. Computers were invented by us, humans, to relieve us from work & have more "work-life balance," but now, you are considered as a good, diligent worker, if you are working with the same speed & energy, as the damn machine.
Now, the next level of machine automation is AI (Artificial Intelligence) & Internet of Things, where machines can talk to one another, & perhaps, perform & learn things on their own, freeing the humans to do other more strategic things.
But, then the question arises that if the machine is learning on its own & we all know that it can learn much more in quantity at a much better speed, then where does that leave us, humans? A human brain can't compete with a processor in speed & memory, esp. when it doesn't even need a human to input data in it; it is learning on its own.
Why would a business, which will of course, always try to reduce its costs, through efficiency & effective procedures, will hire people to crunch data or perform accounting work or draw engineering drawings & etc. etc.? Robotics & machines equipped with AI can & will do all that work & much more at a much faster speed at fraction of a cost of a human, & with much more efficiency & effectively.
What will be happening on the streets of developed countries then, when millions of young & old, who spent ages in studying & getting degrees, are unemployed & have no money to put food on their dinner tables? I think anyone can imagine the chaos in the cities, then.
At the moment, it is a mere "inconvenience" to work more than 40 hours for people, compared to where our society is headed. Then, working 50, 60, or 70 hours will seem nothing when your choices will be (assuming a worker will have a choice) to either work at the same speed as that machine at a much lower salary (hey, that machine doesn't even need any salary to support anyone) or leave the company.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The phrase “nine to five” is becoming an anachronism.
About half of all managers work more than 40 hours a week, according to a new survey from tax & consulting firm EY, & 39% report that their hours have increased in the past 5 years. Little wonder, then, that one-third of workers say it’s getting more difficult to balance work & life.
The survey, which fielded opinions from 9,699 full-time employees in 8 countries, raises some questions about the sustainability of the current pace of work, said Karyn Twaronite, who heads up diversity & inclusion efforts for EY & commissioned the study.
Employees report that their responsibilities at work have increased while wages have largely stayed flat. And while technologies like company-provided smartphones & remote-work software have bought workers some flexibility, they also keep “people tied to work 7 days a week,” Ms. Twaronite noted.
58% of managers in the US report working more than 40 hours a week, surpassed only by managers in Mexico, where 61% say they’re working those hours. By comparison, just over a third of UK managers & under a fifth of managers in China report working beyond 40 hours.
The reported shift in working hours appears to hit parents particularly hard. Some 41% of managers who have kids say they’ve seen their hours increase in the last 5 years, as compared to 37% of managers who do not have children. Working women & parents also rated the task of managing their work & personal lives as slightly more difficult than men & those without children, but respondents of both genders & all generations reported that they’re feeling the crunch. (That study also had some surprising findings about the Millennial generation as working parents.)
What’s making it so hard to navigate career & family? Participants blame flat salaries & rising expenses, along with the increased workload. Managers in the US say they have a hard time getting enough sleep, finding time for themselves & handling more responsibility.
That finding suggests corporate leaders need to think more about employees’ well-being, Ms. Twaronite said.
“There really isn’t any downtime any longer where people could sign off for the day & be done,” she said. “You can be done for the day but it will be morning in China & you need to be responsive to that.”
Some companies tout flexible scheduling–letting workers leave early or take off Fridays, for example—as one remedy. But some US workers say flex arrangements are an imperfect solution. Some 9% said that they have “suffered a negative consequence as a result of having a flexible work schedule,” such as being passed over for a promotion or losing a job.
