Comments about ‘Balancing act: Working late doesn't equate to working hard, readers say’

I once had a boss who complained in a staff meeting that we weren't working hard enough. We weren't putting in enough hours. He cited an example of someone in another group that he felt was a hard worker because he was always working on Saturday when the boss came in.

He was quite embarrassed when someone in our group pointed out that that individual was there on Saturdays working on his dissertation.

I have been a software engineer for 18 years. Working overtime in the software industry is grossly overrated. Just recently, a team member that I work with was told by a supervisor to get his assigned tasks done 2 weeks early to show dedication to the management. So the worker put in a lot of late nights and overtime. He finished on schedule all right, but a month later, his work did not hold up to high standards, and much of what he did during his marathon of overtime had to be redone. It took several weeks to redo his work (I ended being the one who had to redo his work.) In the end, it would have been far more productive to not have done all the extra overtime and instead produce a quality solution, even if it would have taken a few days longer.

This is just one example of dozens I could give about how overtime can backfire. This nonsense needs to stop.

so what does george do that allows him to set his own hours? That's pretty rare I think...

Working late can sometimes be a negative experience for the employees, therefor they waste time and become unproductive.

The best option to avoid working overtime is to become your own boss, start your own enterprise, and get rich! Just like Glenn Beck believes all good Americans should do!