Thread by @opinion

The tweeter who posted this comment on a recent Friday night clearly knew what was coming.

And in a sense, she was not wrong — it was an unpopular opinion. Her claim spawned thousands of satirical and scathing responses trib.al/ePUhGJo

A few, however, defended weekend work and argued that young people have little to offer besides elbow grease:

➡️Their technical skills aren’t developed
➡️Their networks are small
➡️Their hustle is what they’ve got to offer
trib.al/ePUhGJo

But does hustle mean working on the weekends? Not in every city. And does working on the weekends lead to riches? Not in every industry.

But in places like New York City and the Bay Area, long hours often have signaling power trib.al/ePUhGJo

Overwork essentially functions as a form of social currency.

Some researchers have called long hours a “masculinity contest”; others have pointed out that in America especially, busyness is a status symbol trib.al/ePUhGJo

The attachment to long hours is so strong it defies logic.

In a study of surgeons, an attempt to cut down on medical errors by limiting trainees to 80 hours a week was met with such resistance by senior doctors that it failed in 2 out of 3 hospitals trib.al/ePUhGJo

The surgeons claimed you simply couldn’t be a good doctor on “only” 80 hours a week – but the evidence shows the opposite.

In a different study, medical interns who worked 85 hours a week made 36% more errors than those who were limited to 65 hours a week trib.al/ePUhGJo

The “hours in = money out” equation doesn’t always hold up — especially outside of tech, law, finance and consulting.

In fact, in time-greedy professions, like journalism, sometimes people putting in the longest or worst hours are among the lowest paid trib.al/ePUhGJo

Then there’s the question of what work someone in their early 20s is doing on the weekends. In many offices, entry-level jobs don’t provide enough responsibility to justify it.

And yet young people stick to the rule of “never leaving before the boss does” trib.al/ePUhGJo

If people in their 20s consistently work weekends, bosses might assume they are…

✅Overwhelmed by the job
✅Inefficient
✅Lack key skills
✅Are less intelligent

That doesn’t seem like a good candidate for promotion trib.al/ePUhGJo

Sitting at your desk pretending to work so that you can impress a boss who probably isn’t even aware of your presence is not a great use of your fleeting youth.

And maybe not the best way to advance in your career trib.al/ePUhGJo

What helps younger people advance their careers, then? It’s not rocket science:

➡️Get the work done efficiently & quickly
➡️Make as few errors as possible
➡️Ask questions, but not too many
➡️Be friendly & cheerful
➡️Say thank you (& write thank-you notes)
trib.al/ePUhGJo

Don’t work for free to get “exposure.”

The system we’re in is capitalism, and the whole point is to exchange your labor for capital. If you work for free, you devalue yourself trib.al/ePUhGJo

Once you start giving your nights and weekends to your employer, you’re essentially donating back part of your salary. Same goes for not taking your vacation time.

In the casino of capitalism, giving money back to the house is not the way to win trib.al/ePUhGJo

Are you working this weekend? Let us know why 👇
trib.al/ePUhGJo