People usually try to be efficient while doing their job; however, their efforts might sometimes turn out to be counterproductive or just simply out of place. As happened to this man’s colleague, who wanted him to stay for unpaid overtime despite the fact that he would be continuing the same task for the next two days anyway. So the man was plain in stating that he had no interest whatsoever in staying longer.

More info: Reddit

A man finished his work at the contracted time; however, this appeared to be problematic

Image credits: Shawn Stutzman (not the actual image)

This man’s exempt colleague stayed until 7 instead of leaving at 4:30 and gave him flak for not doing the same

Image credits: u/jinglehost

Image credits: Ono Kosuki (not the actual image)

Image credits: u/jinglehost

The man explained that he had no incentive whatsoever to do the unpaid overtime

Image credits: Omid Armin (not the actual image)

Despite people doing overtime, they ended up doing the task for 2 more days anyway

This man explains that while he is on salary, some of his colleagues on the farm where he works are not. This only adds to one of his colleagues not understanding his otherwise only logical decision to finish the job exactly at his contracted time at 4:30 pm and not stay until 7 pm, as his colleagues did. This man gives several reasons for that. First of all, as already mentioned, he does not have additional personal benefits when it comes to the salary, as he is a salaried employee and he would not get paid for doing overtime.

In addition to that, he brings up a few more aspects by explaining that while his colleague wanted him to stay longer and gave him flak the next morning for not doing so, they ended up doing the same work for two more days, anyway. As he puts it: “It wasn’t as if we could do an extra 30mins and complete the task.” This is a common mistake when doing long-term tasks without seeing the bigger picture, which might lead to burnout and is not sustainable.

Finally, last but not least, this man brought up the question of a functioning society, saying: “We shall all be entitled to our share of the money.” This aspect suggests this question has a wider impact than simply personal benefit. In fact, it has to do with benefiting society by benefiting its separate members first. Simply put, keeping the work-life balance often is crucial not only for one’s personal life but for efficient workflow as well. 

As it often happens, after some time, the truth comes to the surface and people eventually can see the point of those who saw it from the very beginning. So did this man’s colleague, who apologized for being so vocal earlier. Finally, his colleague came to an understanding of his reasoning and could support his actions. As this man explains in his post, his colleague was not likely to even think about his situation if he only tried to explain and took no action to back his words, or even worse, if he took a counterproductive step and stayed longer, moaning about his unfair situation. 

This man’s colleague eventually understood his reasoning and apologized for being so vocal earlier

Image credits: juan mendez (not the actual image)

Redditors agreed there was no reason for this man to stay overtime, all the more so as they wouldn’t have finished the work anyway

As this man puts it: “Actions are louder than words!”, therefore it is hard to overestimate the value of walking away. And walking away from the job when it is time to do so is crucial as extra effort is supposed to be bought with money and not be free unless the employee decides otherwise. The reason for that, as brought up by this Redditor, is limited recourses on Earth. However, this point might be made even more specific: first, a person’s time is limited, and second, in most cases the employee would be naive to expect more than what’s “on the contract” from his employer. Going to greater lengths should only be voluntary.

In their study, Delect P. discusses the importance of work-life balance, noticing that people who see work as their main goal in life tend to center all their other activities around it, which might easily lead to one’s career interrupting other aspects of life, and eventually ruining the balance between them. He defines work-life balance as “an individual’s ability to meet their work and family commitments, as well as other non-work responsibilities and activities.” It is emphasized that after work and other areas of one’s life go out of balance, it tends to affect all areas negatively, including work.

Keeping a work-life balance has a positive effect on all areas of life, respectively. When it comes to work, it is shown to increase job performance as well as job satisfaction, while at the same time decreasing job burnout and absenteeism. When it comes to non-work-related areas, keeping one’s life and work in balance leads to increased life satisfaction, increased marital and family satisfaction, increased satisfaction with leisure activities, better physical and psychological health and decreased conflict with other family members.

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