Good afternoon, Monday. It's been a long time. Regretfully I have not had time to write on this blog or create the new one I keep mentioning. I've been busy with a book project as well as producing some shoots so no time to talk about anything important- like the death of Prince, my hatred of festival fashion, and how fabulous Gloria Vanderbilt looks at 90.
But I digress because as I was walking Khan this afternoon, rejoicing in the first Monday I've had off in some time, I had a thought. It may seem obvious, but it hit me over the head so I thought I'd share.
As a freelancer, having a week off is a wonderful perk- a week is a good amount of time before the inevitable fear of homelessness sets in, when New York is yours, and you can sit in the park and breathe and take a class at the gym at 11 am instead of 6 am. That alone is a great luxury.
I've spent my career in advertising and my husband happens to work in the biz as well. Something that came to mind today was the expectation that people in our line of work (and many others too) are expected to work around the clock, night and day if necessary to meet a deadline, win a pitch, or solve any multitude of problems. And though he never complains about it (most likely because he's used to it), my husband, who works as a creative/writer in said business, often does not come home till late into the night. For those of you also making ad type objects of late, you know full well that working late is not the exception- it is very much the expected norm if you want to succeed and not be in the dog house with your boss or cohorts. Working past 6 is "what we must do". I am starting to think that this is shite and here's why.
One of the biggest reasons is we are not compensated to work late. That's right. I said it. I used to make fun of my mom when she would ask me if I got "paid extra" to work weekends and pull all nighters and travel. But really, shouldn't we get paid for all of the time we put in? Why is it expected of us to always be working? Day time/night time/all the time. It's farkakta. For you non Jews, that's our way of saying completely wacky.
Sure people in advertising make a nice amount of money- enough to buy organic kale, a good handbag, and take classes at Soul Cycle if one is so inclined. But if people in this biz and others are expected to put in more hours than the actual work day, shouldn't they be paid for that? Imagine how many ad agencies would come to a screeching halt at 6 pm if they actually had to pay people to work there past dinner time. Wouldn't that be something?
Now I know those of you in senior management are rolling your collective eyes right now, because you could argue that you pay people well, very well in some cases. But if time is money, why are agency workers not paid for the time they put in? And if agencies and other types of organizations don't want to pay for extra time put in, then maybe we should not be working late in the first place. Not to mention that I have always been a very efficient kind of girl- why on Earth can't people get their work done during working hours? The way work is distributed and the expectation that any idle hours are frivolous is a ludicrous concept. I find it sad that the only time I feel like I can feel unburdened is when I'm not working- surely there's a way to work above the minimum wage as a professional and get compensated for not just the effort we put in, but the time? Why is our time so taken for granted when life is so damn short? Not to mention the countless entry level types who are expected to work until dawn, with no additional compensation. The fact that that's considered "doing what it takes" is ridiculous. Maybe that's why so many millennials are perceived as non-compliant with this sweatshop like behavior- because they have a better sense of their value- from a time, money, and quality of life perspective. They're not as dumb as we were, that's for sure.
Maybe just maybe all of those dreaded late nights would be worth it if we were compensated accordingly. Because then the time we do take off would be well spent- taking that much needed vacation, taking care of family, and maybe even taking a class at night in something to enrich our lives.
I'm tired of the expectation that work requires us to never stop- I am far from lazy and will do whatever it takes to make something great. But really- why is our time not valued? If our work is valued and we are paid for our brains and experience and creativity, then why are we not paid for our time? Why is that considered idealistic? And why are we expected to never stop working, even though we are not paid based on the time we put in?
These are the kind of things I think about when I actually have the time to have a thought that is my own. When did time well spent become so disparate from time well paid? I believe strongly in working hard, but I also believe in the balance of having a life, and if work/life has to blur because we are now perpetually "on", should we not be paid for our precious time? I think we can agree on one thing- life is very short. And every second counts.
Cause that's what's up this taking a pause kind of Monday in the 718. Yours, in time well earned. Hopefully you're not going to read this while having dinner at your desk. And if you are, they better be paying for it. XO