Working at Night is for Raccoons – Not You!

jo says on June 30th, 2008 at 10:20 am

I agree completely. However, it’s difficult when your boss disagrees and says that because you are a salaried employee you need to work at home, too (after 40 hours at work). In this tough job market it’s not easy to quit and move on to a more sane work environment. What protections are there for employees?

Ann at One Bag Nation says on June 30th, 2008 at 12:49 pm

I’m definitely not at my best at night. I’m finding though that with a family, it’s hard to pursue entrepreneurial ideas at any other time, even while working part-time.

I do know that I could be more efficient. My blog is about trying to feel more in control of my work and home life, and saving some time at the end of the day for a child-free conversation with my husband is a new goal!

B Smith @ Wealth and Wisdom says on June 30th, 2008 at 1:47 pm

I’ve found that you need to put boundaries in place to protect your family time. This is only an issue if you are not using your work time effectively. By focusing on the 20% of activities that give you 80% of the results no one will complain that you aren’t working at 10pm. Note: both of these were ideas in the post itself.

@Jo-There is some truth to what your boss says. You are paid for a result. If it takes you until 10pm then you need to put in the time. That being said, it also means that if you can finish in a few hours you should be free.

I can’t say about your specific situation because too many facts are unknown. If you boss is unreasonable then you need to take strong measures.

I had one job where I needed to make other commitments before I could cut out the midnight oil. For example, I went back to school to earn a second degree (my engineering degree). There was never an issue if I left to go to class or do my homework. I’ve also used coaching youth teams as a reason.

If none of this works you need to actively find alternative employment. Even in slow economies you can find a job, it just gets harder. Read my post 11 Steps to the Job of Your Dreams for what I’ve found to be the best way to land a great job.

Shanel Yang says on June 30th, 2008 at 1:48 pm

@Jo – True that some work environments are complete slave mills. But, only 2 out of 10 that I worked at proved impossibly that way for long. Both drove people to leave in droves. As for the other 8 salaried jobs I had, there were always those of us who worked crazy hours and those of us who didn’t. I was of the former camp but moved to the latter camp. I studied the 80/20 rule and ruthlessly put it to work for me. Only then was I able to see what I had been missing all those years!

If you’re in the crazy slave mill environment, I’d still consider leaving (but only after I secured a new job) b/c your health is just not worth it. Your employer won’t take care of you if you get sick. You’ll just get laid off. And, then, where will you be? Disability insurance only covers up to 75% of your income, if that. The market is tight, but taking a big pay cut for a more sane, healthy environment was the preferably choice for me.

If your in the environment where at least some of your colleagues are not working your crazy hours, then invest the time and effort to apply the 80/20 rule. It’s a habit that will pay dividends the rest of your life!

@Susan – Excellent post!

Tony | Spark Victory says on June 30th, 2008 at 4:05 pm

I have experienced many situations of being overworked, and realized that being overworked is mainly due to my own decisions. We are ultimately the ones responsible managing our time to be as effective as possible. Its easy to lose focus and drift away on what is truly important.

One trick I like to do before starting any big project is to ask myself “what is the return on the time I spend doing this? Is this going to help with my goals? And finally ask “is there a better solution to this?” If its truly worthwhile then I will focus on it, but if its not then ill move on to higher priorities that I can devote my time….. There are only so many hours in a day! 

John says on June 30th, 2008 at 8:44 pm

i love these articles that say to set your boundaries and make sure people respect them. if i had an auto response email that said i turn off at 9pm, i would be fired the next day. we are expected to respond to emails within ten minutes up until midnight…no questions asked. 7 days a week…365 days a year. get used to that, because the job market is just getting tougher and tougher.

Debora says on July 1st, 2008 at 1:45 am

Though I agree that working around the clock is a bad idea, I disagree when you state that “Humans are not nocturnal”. I am a real nightperson and would much prefer working in the evening to working in the morning. This week I have to start work at 05:30AM and though the sun is up and I’ve had enough sleep all I want to do is go to bed. And I centainly don’t get as much work done as I do usually. Just can’t seem to focus.
And I know I’m not the only one.

Chapman says on July 1st, 2008 at 8:27 am

Being overworked is often your own choice, and usually a false sense of peer pressure. Once it’s set in the only way to get out of this is to quit your job, reassess your approach and doing something new and different. I know from my own experience. I quit 2 weeks ago, having found a way to get passive income (trading Forex, see my website if you’re interested).

TexasEx94 says on July 1st, 2008 at 8:57 pm

As a social worker, I have to work around my clients’ work hours, meaning I often have to meet with them after 5pm after seeing other clients all day long. Then I have to document all my contacts within 24 hours. It’s easiest to do that in the evening. While not easy I’ve been able to manage it for a number of years but now I have a baby on the way and I really am concerned about how I’m going to pull it off.

Santhosh says on July 7th, 2008 at 9:19 am

It is very true that lot of young people do stretch themselves intially in their career to make that mark at the company. Maybe they are ill advised or it is sometimes their enthusiasm and fear that does not allow them to be very prompt with stretching working hours into home.

But yes when one understands the long term benefits they will find merit in following the no work in nights rule. Moreover, if companies are more employee friendly they can actually invest in their well being to become more productive. Unfortunately you find very few companies really practicing them. So how do people working for normal companies with too much expectations from their employees deal with it. On one hand it is thier job that is on stake, needed to sustain themselves and on the other hand it is thier life which they have to take care of. A tough to acheive delicate balancing act very few can actually manage.

loqk says on July 23rd, 2008 at 5:15 am

Thanks Debora for standing up for our right to sleep according to our biorhythms. I expected to see, as usual, lots of diurnals congratulating each other about knowing the “correct” and “good” time to be awake.

It would be nice if this sort of discrimination could be eliminated as our understanding of physiology and psychology move out of that of the Dark Ages. Since one of my psychology lectures made a diurnist comment recently, and he is involved in studies of sleep and biorhythms, I don’t expect attitudes to change soon.

Many of our adoptions are for night time activity, as we are neither a diurnal, nocturnal, carnivorous, nor herbivorous animal, we are a generalist species, able to do a great many things, none of them better than the specialists, but on the whole, better at surviving. We are good in many areas, rather then excelling at a few. For the most part, humans are able to navigate, hunt and fight by starlight. Our brightly lit modern world often helps us to forget this.

In our less technological days, someone still had to keep watch over the camp at night. Many of the great scientists describe their poor eyesight and best ideas coming from their nocturnal existence by lamp or candle light. Nowadays, we have better lighting, so reading fine text during the night has less of an impact on our vision, but many of our best ideas still come in the hours after the sun has left the sky.

Many of the social problems you describe are not caused by the hours of sleep and wakefulness, but by a society that values the clock more than our health.

What matters is not when you sleep, but for how long, and for how long you work. In general, the 1/3 principle seems to work best:
1/3 sleep, 1/3 work, 1/3 play.

Obviously, with new drugs available that allow sleep to be dispensed with, this may change to the 50%, 50% rule, but I am not personally ready to do away with my sleep yet :-)

Kusanagi, H., A. Hida, et al. (2008). “Expression profiles of 10 circadian clock genes in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells.” Neurosci Res 61(2): 136-42.

Godinho, S. I., E. S. Maywood, et al. (2007). “The after-hours mutant reveals a role for Fbxl3 in determining mammalian circadian period.” Science 316(5826): 897-900.

Wes Carpenter says on September 10th, 2009 at 10:41 pm

When you mention the need for an assistant you say “You need an assistant and have the okay to hire one but don’t take the time to find HIM”

Just curious why you chose the word “him” and not “one” or “her.”

Do you have a complex?