So a rather huge issue that has been discussed this week is the whole idea of work and leisure merging together and becoming a rather blurred entity. Where as in the past work was separated by a particular period of time, I'm sure we are all familiar with the term 9 to 5, it is becoming more and more apparent that people are choosing to do various forms of 'work' outside of this period. In fact not only are they doing this outside of the considered normal working hours, but they are doing so in places and contexts outside of the norm (Parties, social gatherings, dinners, nightclubs, home etc). A term appropriate for this is 'presence bleed' coined by Gregg in his article Function Creep.
For me on a personal level this isn't such a new issue, nor do I think people realise we are conditioned for this type of behaviour and way of living. In today's society we are taught that it is not uncommon to have to work outside of work. Our earliest example of this is 'homework' which is exactly what it says it is. Homework is work that is to be done at home, and we are presented with this concept at a very early age when we are kids growing up. It than carries over to various levels of high school, college, university and will most probably carry over to most jobs people obtain in their life.
In the three jobs I currently have only one of them is the typical 9 to 5 environment....I turn up, do my job, leave and return when I have to and start again. My other jobs on the other hand involve doing tasks outside of a work environment in order to prepare myself for what the job involves. For example I will find songs and organise programs to teach my drum students whilst I am at home during my own time...or what is considered 'leisure time.' This doesn't particularly bother me, as I see it as part of the job and since I really enjoy my job I have no qualms whatsoever doing this. I actually see this as giving me more time to focus on the overall goals and end results of the job, rather than it taking away from my leisure time. Like most thing's in our life I see it as a balancing act, of which one needs to balance so many aspects of their life in order to live.
Having the ability to check emails on the go, receive important phone calls and do work as I'm out and about is a huge convenience. I can now take action on particular tasks straight away or as soon as possible and every spare minute I have can be spent assisting in the completion of a task. Where as in the past I would have to wait till my work period (9 to 5) to do such tasks, now I am a lot more flexible and can reduce my workload by doing tasks as they come up and as soon as they can be dealt with.
Bit of a self rant but I'm keen to hear other people's thoughts!
Gregg, M. 'Function Creep: Communication technologies and anticipatory labour in the information
workplace'.
I hadn't thought about the fact that we are introduced to homework at such a young age but that is really bringing work home with you that eats into your leisure. Im sure all of us have had the problem where you would rather be at the beach with friends in summer or out shopping (or whatever you like doing) but you are stuck inside finishing assignments or studying.
ReplyDeleteI am in a similar situation to you. I work 3 jobs. Only one involves working during work hours and it never comes home with me. My dance teaching involves me finding music and choreographing prior to class time.
I think as we are introduced to bringing work home at such a young age it is becoming part of the 'norm'. Its just becoming more and more noticeable with the use of internet and technological advances.
I also really only just realised that we are all introduced to homework so early in life, attempting to extend our learning time into our leisure time, thus becoming a norm in primary school!
ReplyDeleteI also have 3 jobs (what a fun bunch of people we are...) and really only take 1 of them home with me, if i need to make a certain deadline, but the other is on a casual basis so I must continually check my phone and emails just in case.
Sure, as you said it is a convenience to answer important calls and emails when im out and about, but I cant help but think of all the times it has also been a bit of a hindrance to me... I agree it does make us more flexible, but how far should we bend backwards for our work life, when were not there?
I absolutely agree with everything you wrote. When writing my own blog I didn't see the concept of homework as a training method but now as you outlined it in your own blog it does make sense. In reality we have always been trained for blurring of these boundaries and even though I hated homework back in primary school it was everybody's starting point of training.
ReplyDeleteFlexibility is one thing that we all need to be able to balance out work and leisure and at the end of the day I do think it is up to the individual on how to balance their day as you did mention. And as you mentioned Olivia 'how far should we bend backwards for our work life' I do think it is up to the individual and the capabilities that person possesses. People do realize their own limitations and I believe they execute their own work outside of work within the limitations and realization of balancing their own lives!
When the idea that the notion of leisure is seemingly being phased out by people taking their work home with them was brought up I couldn't believe it, but then I found myself logging onto facebook, which I consider a leisure activity, and going into the 4 groups I have which are dedicated to DIGC subjects.
ReplyDeleteEarlier this year my boyfriend at the time suggested we go away for a weekend and turn our phones off so we could spend some time together. He had suggested it because I had just spent 25 minutes helping my manager organise our roster for the upcoming week whilst out for dinner. I scoffed at his idea cause being without my phone would be very difficult. But he could see that I am one of those people who has real trouble leaving work and uni at home and separating leisure from work.