[HN Gopher] The Hidden Costs of Living Alone
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The Hidden Costs of Living Alone
Author : prostoalex
Score : 37 points
Date : 2021-10-22 20:05 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.theatlantic.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.theatlantic.com)
| bserge wrote:
| It's the same in Europe. And likely the rest of the world.
| [deleted]
| nickff wrote:
| > _" Many who live by themselves are effectively penalized at
| work too. "Lots of people I interviewed complained that their
| managers presumed they had extra time to stay at the office or
| take on extra projects because they don't have family at
| home...""_
|
| This is my concern when parents say they require accommodations
| (less work and lower expectations of productivity) because they
| have children (especially when working from home); they
| implicitly assume that non-parents can and should 'pick up the
| slack'.
| seanmcdirmid wrote:
| Flexibility is great for everyone, for people with kids and
| without. I've never heard that used as being code for lower
| productivity before.
| asdff wrote:
| That shouldn't be the assumption. If there is slack to be
| picked up, good management should hire more labor rather than
| stretch existing labor thin and burn out their workers.
| Companies that grind people right to the deadline are doing it
| wrong.
| klyrs wrote:
| I have a family, and I'm very protective of my time because
| failure to, for example, pick my kid after school would quickly
| escalate to criminal negligence. If my work demanded that I
| commit any crime, I would refuse until I got fired (quitting is
| for losers, in this case: I want my damned severance).
|
| I don't assume that non-parents can or should pick up the
| slack. I expect all of my coworkers to be protective of their
| work-life balance and I'm dismayed whenever I see them
| prioritize work in a detrimental way.
|
| Said differently, if you're upset at parents putting their
| children's wellbeing before your team's performance, then you
| should re-evaluate your relationship with work.
| yeahsure wrote:
| Your comment clearly demonstrates OP's argument. Parents
| believe their time is more important than that of people
| without children.
| davidw wrote:
| No:
|
| > I expect all of my coworkers to be protective of their
| work-life balance and I'm dismayed whenever I see them
| prioritize work in a detrimental way.
|
| I agree completely, as a parent. I don't expect non-parents
| to put in extra time. Kids certainly do give you "real time
| deadlines" that can't be moved or pushed out of the way,
| but I don't expect to work any less because of them.
| creato wrote:
| It really depends on what exactly you're talking about. If
| you want to be unavailable for an hour every day during the
| standard "work day", that goes well beyond reasonable
| protectiveness of work-life balance in my opinion.
| [deleted]
| syspec wrote:
| Kind of a strawman argument, and a bit dramatic. The parent
| is discussing parents wanting to leave early and be given
| less work
| klyrs wrote:
| Fine. A strictly capitalist take on the situation: your
| inability to negotiate for desirable hours & wages is not
| the responsibility of anybody but yourself. Go work in a
| union if you want everybody to have the same contract.
| sneak wrote:
| Seems to me that your supervisor and coworkers should never
| hear about whether or not you have a family or kids.
|
| Surely that sort of information is need-to-know at work?
| throwawayboise wrote:
| Yep. Came here to say that this is a consequence of revealing
| too much about your private life to your co-workers.
| redisman wrote:
| > they implicitly assume that non-parents can and should 'pick
| up the slack'
|
| Not accurate. I expect management to "pick up the slack". If
| the work can't be finished in a normal work week then that's
| not my problem (and it wasn't before I had kids either)
| [deleted]
| Waterluvian wrote:
| Honestly, I think that my peers without kids who work crazy
| hours are, simply put, suckers.
|
| I don't expect them to pick up slack. I expect the employer to
| properly staff and schedule.
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