Blur.

A recent study of information technology workers (Melissa Grigg University of Sydney) showed that sending work emails first thing in the morning or last thing at night was no longer considered work. Huh? We talk about lines being blurred but I’m not sure there are any lines left to blur. When was the last time you said no, to doing something outside of work hours?

Okay, what are work hours?

Factory workers and production line staff clock on and off and are paid accordingly on an hourly basis. So there is still a 9 to 5 mentality of sorts. The big question of course, is when was the last time you or anyone you know worked to rule, i.e. clocking on and off? My wage receipt says I work a specific number of hours per week and has done across all the positions I’ve held, yet I can’t ever remember sticking to those parameters. Why not?

Is it my work ethic born of that pragmatic German ethos of getting the job done? Is it living up to the expectations of management and the higher service levels that can only be achieved with extra hours? Is it the peer group expectation that you won’t let he team down? Is it the use of technology and the ease of working remote, so work no longer has the walls and desks to tie you down to specific hours? Is it sometimes feeling like a department of one and really needing 27 hours in the day to successfully do your job?

I think all of the above, plus more, and with that comes a notion to renegotiate what your work hours entail. After all 24 hours is not a lot of time when you throw in 8 hours sleep, leaving you with little time to spend outside of work for the important things in life.

This can become extreme and a friend of mine who works very late every day but spends all the work hours socialising, lunching and thus catching up at night is not where we want to head. So those extra hours you work daily could be a bargaining chip. Is it time to do a negotiation course with Scotwork?

So you do the work but what would you to get back for spending all that extra time?

What about some days off for the weekends worked? An oldie but something that never seems to happen. A real lunchtime and not just crumbs on your computer keyboard. A red Ferrari. Flowers and gifts for that extra effort, without the finance department giving you the FBT grill. Do florists still have corporate accounts? A red Ferrari. Some serious one on one time with the boss to speak your mind without repercussions. A red Ferrari. A new computer monitor bigger than the 1997 version of large screen. A red Ferrari. Recognition in front of your peers. A red Ferrari. The list goes on and it’s up to your management to work with you on how you structure some kind of payback (I just got a flashback to growing up in the ‘Gong and talking unions) for the EXTRA you give.

I think it’s an easy solution as long as you agree the most precious commodity in your life is time.

How many of those emails couldn’t wait for the next day? Were you good at your job before emails? Did you succeed in business before emails? Did people think less of you for not returning a call until the next day?

You can always earn another dollar, but can you get the last ten minutes back?

So what are you going to ask for?

You already know the answer?