andrewducker | Interesting Links for 31-07-2022

3. The problem is that employers want to use the standard of someone who is both an outlier in natural energy & application and willingness to use those attributes for their job to create the default expectation for all potential employees. Frequently those outlier people don't even realize, or acknowledge, that they are outliers.

I'm disabled enough that it's hard in multiple ways to work a 40-hour job, but my employer doesn't know because all the rest of my time is spent buffing myself up to return to work. If the norm in the US were less onerous I would benefit.

I like this way of framing the problem and I agree.

As an example, I'm quite personally ambitious, so I often put emotional energy in to my work. I care about the success of the organisation and behave as if it were important to me. Which I think is more than most employers have bargained for with most employees - who are after all alienated from their own labour by the capitalist system.

I expect to be handsomely rewarded for my care and the outcomes that arise from my care. I think it's perfectly reasonable that people who are not paid to care just to their job and get paid their wage.

Agreed. And also, it comes and goes in phases. I've been more dedicated to my employers at points when I had less small children and hadn't been in the midst of being made redundant for three years (so far).

But I am also older, and more understanding of my limitations. I've worked on projects where I was in every Saturday and alternate Sundays for three months to get a project finished. I know that it completely burned me out for about three months afterwards, and I wasn't fully productive for another three after that. So I won't be doing that again unless my work is actively lifesaving. The occasional hour or two of extra time to get something fixed is within my capability, on the other hand, and so I don't mind doing that if a server falls over at the weekend, or someone breaks something and it would be a bad idea to leave it broken until the following day.

The phasing thing is important to remember.

Yup. And it's very situational. I'm definitely looking to make sure that my next job is with people who actively *want* to have a solid software development side, and believe that they're worth investing in. Working somewhere where we're seen as useful, rather than just a cost to be minimised, would do a lot for my engagement.

I support your desire to be rewarded in excess of the average for your work in excess of the average. What I object to is employers either or both of (1) expecting to have all their employees at your level while only paying average market compensation; (2) judging all employees by your standard when it is not required to do the job. E.g., I am a legal secretary. There is literally nothing in my average day that requires working my hardest; only occasional days require that, and I also have some slack time most weeks. Trying to add more work to my desk so that I am working my hardest every day will result in me quitting before I burn out, not in working my hardest every day.

100% agree.

Interesting Links for 31-07-2022

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