*****
When I started in engineering, I was sent out bush for long periods of
time - weeks or, in one case, months, time spent living in construction
camps, cut off from friends and the things that made life worthwhile (no internet or even mobile phones back then). I made a lot of money, but it was so soul-destroying that after I had served the time of my bond (which
also gave me the benefit of being paid enough to survive while I went
to uni, although now, I think I would have been better off pursuing my
hobbies and becoming a chippie [carpenter]), I quit, determined to
leave engineering. As it turned out, I wound up having a year off, and
then found myself back in engineering, in a city-based design office,
fighting over overtime expectations.The union I am in recently did a survey on unpaid overtime, and one of the options they were exploring was, effectively, peer pressure. I've always been a bit contrary, and thus I tend to resist peer pressure - more so, if the peer pressure is applied harder. And that was what happened.
The managers I was enduring at that time had obviously never come across anyone who questioned what they had taken as a given, and they floundered initially and then pushed back harder, including formalising expectations in a memo which set out the extra hours of unpaid overtime we would be expected to work. I pointed out that their expectations meant that the true hourly rate went down, which showed that they valued the increased experience and effectiveness that comes with being experienced less than simply working longer hours. (I had also declined to get into the normal expectations of doing more management, insisting on staying in a technical role: that is fairly widely accepted now, but 40 years ago it was another cause of being flummoxed.)
Most - not all - of these managers who were expecting this all had problems with their relationships, including kids. They seemed to be of the view that company profits (which, for much of this time, had no direct benefit for them - there was an end of year bonus, but it was nothing like the amount of unpaid salary/wages) were more important than their quality of life. The most insistent of these people also seemed flummoxed by anything outside of engineering - things like the move towards a more caring and inclusive society. I also saw one engineer being totally unresponsive when he saw reports that the First Gulf War had started - despite seeing some footage of pipes he had designed being blown up.
There was a similar dismissiveness when the twin towers fell on 9/11 - an attitude of "oh, yes, that's bad, but it's nothing to do with us, get back to work".
Now, as I go through another cycle of peer pressure to work unpaid overtime (which, at my current age and with my health issues is physically harmful [making it easier to get through to people that I am not available], in addition to the emotional damage), there are a few points I would like to make.
Firstly, I have profound doubts about the emotional competence of some of the people I have worked with in engineering. There are some very unseemly jokes about this, but it is a problem I saw when I was at Uni, and I consider it something that the engineering profession needs to address.
Next (second), it is time the non-physical costs of overtime - whether paid or unpaid - were addressed. It was pleasing that my union has finally started on this, but they're several decades late, really. The damage includes the obvious damage to relationships with family and friends, but also to the person doing the overtime themselves -they become emotionally crippled, withdrawn, less able to interact in a normal human fashion, in some ways damaged as people who have experienced a war - not on the frontline, perhaps, but the sacrifices made on "the home front", or in support areas of the military.
They're almost like martyrs - which brings me to the last (third) point: people want to be part of something bigger than the individual. Where that "something bigger" is something that is constructive, perhaps a charity or a progressive political party, that is good for society, and for the individual. It is likely to be something that allows the person to feel "good" about themselves, and is likely to lead to them interact more healthily with other people.
But when it is something like the profit margin of a company, or it involves coercing people to adopt a lower quality of life, it is not - it has all the human problems I mentioned above, and it also gives a false image of the company's state of being.
A few years ago, I looked at this and noticed that the average profit margins of Australian companies seemed to match the amount of unpaid overtime . . .
I suspect that a similar effect, or possibly even more pronounced effect, applies to overseas companies - especially in the economically often vaunted USA, which has a long history of bashing and abusing workers and unions.
What is needed is for those who are able to resist this pressure to do so - politely, but persistently, and for those who have the power to influence such matters to start also addressing the second and third points I listed above.
And now it is time to get ready and go work my paid time at work :)
