Are People Really More Busy? The Rise of Shadow Work | The Art of Manliness

You work in America. American companies are whores. If they can f**k you in to doing more they will. Right now I'm a supply guy but regularly deploy to ships to fix an antenna issue here/there as I also used to be the builder guy. Now here's the rub...I do it, but don't double up. I don't do 8 hours of ship work and then come back and do 8 hours of supply stuff. And I put O/T like nobodies business on my time card.

But yeah - if they can scam you into more work, they will.

Americans are working a lot harder nowadays compared to 20-30 years ago. Back in the day, an executive would have a secretary who would answer phone calls, type reports, etc. When he went home, he was not disturbed by work unless the building was on fire.

Now, folks are reachable 24-7. So when a executive goes home, he is still answering calls and putting out fires all night long. There is no 40 hour work weeks. He writes his own reports and answers his own calls.

Also, many companies have been consolidating positions for years. The work never went away, just the folks who do the job. My last job, I was doing the work of 3 positions.

When older folks tell you how hard they worked, its nothing compared to todays world.

I believe this truly. A lot of times in the military you find yourself wearing many hats or dual-hating. Im not an admin guy but I need to understand and do a lot of my own paperwork. I'm not logistics but alas, the same measures are required.