Wally Backman -- Kicking it old school

[bk400]

So a colleague in his mid-20s assertively told me that I was creating undue pressure outside of work hours by sending him work emails over the weekend.

Sigh. This is what happens to when you swap out pull ups for hula hoops in PE class.

Wally Backman giving a motivational locker room speech:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlsVr1ykBqQ

Wally Backman had his share of issues, but sometimes you need Wally Backman.

[packs]

I’m with your colleague. Office hours are office hours. Send an email during them. We all get two days a week to ourselves and that time is for living your real life.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by packs

I’m with your colleague. Office hours are office hours. Send an email during them. We all get two days a week to ourselves and that time is for living your real life.

I agree. I'm not sure what PE class has to with it.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

I agree. I'm not sure what PE class has to with it.

That’s for the modern day bootstrappers and the grind it outers.

I used to do sets of pull-ups on a regular basis before my elbows stopped cooperating with me, but that don’t mean you can ask me to work for free on my days off.

Now if you have a job where you’re being paid to be on call…that’s different rules.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by bk400

So a colleague in his mid-20s assertively told me that I was creating undue pressure outside of work hours by sending him work emails over the weekend.

Sigh. This is what happens to when you swap out pull ups for hula hoops in PE class.

Wally Backman giving a motivational locker room speech:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlsVr1ykBqQ

Wally Backman had his share of issues, but sometimes you need Wally Backman.

After watching the video, I will say that when I played ball growing up, I hated, hated, hated…when the coach didn’t let us sneak in a batting practice before games.

Couldn’t imagine a ballplayer voluntarily not taking BP if they got a chance to gear up before a game.

[D. Bergin]

For some reason this card immediately pops in my head.

[bk400]

I didn't ask the guy to respond over the weekend (although that's what I would've done at his age and at that stage of my career). I just sent him the email over the weekend. How mentally weak do you have to be to find that receiving an email over the weekend creates undue work pressure?

I guess I'm just a dinosaur. Got my call with HR on Monday. The guy copied in HR, a nice woman my age who, apparently, not only reads emails over the weekend, but also responds.

[packs]

There are 40 hours a week for you to communicate with your colleague. France passed a right to disconnect law not too long ago. Businesses there can rack up fines for not respecting out of office hours. People’s priorities are shifting to life ahead of work and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I have a family. The most important things I do will happen outside the office and I have a limited enough time to do them as it is.

[bk400]

All fair points. But then we should be able to promote more quickly those who take the initiative to go above and beyond the bare minimum of, ahem, French labor law.

It's like professional baseball -- the best get promoted to the big leagues, not the best per 40 (or 35, in the case of France) hours worked.