It has become trendy to work long hours, even considering it as a badge of honour, especially in the private sector. How myopic this mindset is, will become evident when we see its inevitable fallout. Not for nothing was the working day standardised as eight hours after long struggle. This can be violated only by paying a disastrous price.
Working Long Hours (Image Courtesy: HuffPost)
The problem is exacerbated by both husband & wife going out to work. While it might have worked in the erstwhile, now defunct joint family, it is calamitous in a nuclear family. As nowadays, couples from different backgrounds marry, additional empathy is required to make the marriage work, which requires time. Long hours of both partners rule this out. Divorce may become more common, with its resultant mental, social & financial trauma.
If the marriage survives, arrival of children poses new problems. The mandatory few months maternity leave may take care of physiological needs of the babies, but not the emotional bonding, which requires years. Because of better economical resources of two salaries, a nanny may seem an attractive option. But cooler thoughts bring sense that the children may grow up with the nannies' set of values, not the parents'. All nannies, unfortunately, are not "Practically Perfect" like Mary Poppins! This may create an unbridgeable chasm between parents & children, which may be lifelong.
So if there is a choice, it may be wiser to choose a job with sensible working hours even if the compensation may not be what is expected. It may prove more beneficial in the long run to cut down expenses rather than try to increase income by unconscionable working hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment