Have You Ever Been Married To The Job?

There were times in my career when it would have been more appropriate to refer to my desk or computer as “sweetheart”. Oh sure, I could have used those words on my beautiful wife, but that would been, sadly, less appropriate.

You see I’ve suffered from a malady called “stupidguyshouldbeathomeitis”. During my young career I made the mistake of many before me – thinking that hours at the office were equal to loving and protecting my family. I believed that the single most important thing I could do was keep bringing home the bacon. And that the insurance for that was the hours I worked.

I recently found a blog called Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist. Penelope wrote an interesting post in late October called 3 Ways work will change when Gen Y is in charge . Her points?

1. Middle management will work longer hours.

2. Entry-level employees will avoid technological complexity.

3. People will assume employers are looking out for the interests of employees.

I was most interested in point one as I was looking for ways to explain my own behavior. Her explanation on why Gen Y will spend time more time at work than Gen X is:

“Generation X is known for leaving work early to be with kids. There are a lot of forces driving this. First, Gen X was raised as latchkey kids, and as parents, we are very cautious about repeating this. So maybe we go overboard.”

and

“Generation Y will not parent as much. First, this generation was raised by helicopter parents, and not everyone thinks that was a great idea (although I think it’s fine). So Gen Y is likely to pull back a bit in the parenting realm.”

Now, here’s where it gets tricky. I was a Gen X latchkey kid but I have worked long hours way too often in my career and was at work when I should have been home tucking my kids into bed. Diagnosing the actions of adults based on their childhood experiences and environment is probably a very slippery science.

I think my driving force was related to my Dad’s own job search difficulties just as I was entering my sophomore year of college. His experience was difficult and affected us kids both financially and mentally. As I graduated college, I had a powerful sense of purpose. I wanted to be independent and successful – it was up to me now. A very strong work ethic was an easy and logical focus. Often a blinding one.

There is another aspect of having an over-inflated work ethic. If this is you, listen up. It’s called “following the work down”. It involves doing the work of those below you to be sure that the project gets done right and on time. You stop delegating, you send your people home because you’ve got it covered. I have seen it multiple times.

Why is this dangerous?

First, it keeps you at the office longer than necessary. Second, this focus on work below you means that you are not doing the work you were hired to do and you are certainly not doing the work above you that may help to get you promoted to the job above you.

This is an important lesson to learn because the right focus will not only help you succeed at work but it will shape the way you manage your career. And good career management can help keep you employed.

If you are Gen X or Gen Y, where do you fall on the work ethic spectrum?