Monday, November 3, 2008

But I don't want a 40 hour work week . . .

I'm sure there's a reason why this is the case but I could speculate forever on the why. Why I have a high level of family values, amount of pride in my home, and desire to relax for hours at a time while my brain returns to equillibrium. I just do (there's probably not much I can do to change it at this point :P). However, the result is that now I'm in the workforce 40+ hours a week for the rest of my life seems a little daunting.

There enlies the problem. I'm an engineer and engineers work long weeks. It's not the only profession either in Canada the work week increased from 44.6 to 46.3 hours in the period of 1998 - 2005 [1]. What's the deal guys? Is it the high cost of living? The competition for jobs? What makes us willing to work this long?

Is it really necessary? Consider the price. We have less leisure time, less time with our families, less time building our relationships (other than the ones at work).

So, I'm creating a goal for myself. In the next 5 - 10 years I want to get into a job that is 35 - 37 hours a week. Definitely necessary before I have children, I mean I want them to know who their mommy is instead of seeing her in the two hours between when she gets home and they go to bed (and to not know her as the highly stressed psycho lady :P).

[1] http://www.irpp.org/newsroom/archive/2007/020107e.pdf

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