
Jeff Bezos on why work-life balance is ‘a debilitating phrase’ - wslh
http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesky/hub/ct-bsi-ladders-20180503-story.html
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hkmurakami
>On why he thinks “work-life balance” is a “debilitating phrase”

>“This work-life harmony thing is what I try to teach young employees and
actually senior executives at Amazon too. But especially the people coming in.
I get asked about work-life balance all the time. And my view is, that’s a
debilitating phrase because it implies there’s a strict trade-off. And the
reality is, if I am happy at home, I come into the office with tremendous
energy. And if I am happy at work, I come home with tremendous energy.

A lot of folks seem to read this (I think Bezos said something similar last
year and there were dismissive reactions to that) and take it cynically,
especially given Amazon's workplace culture reputation. But I think there's a
lot of truth to this -- that if you are rejuvenated by your job, then that
fulfillment spills over to your personal life, and vice versa. But it's an
idealized situation that simply isn't really available to everyone, and to
insinuate that one _must_ strive for such a harmonious situation is dangerous,
because those high standards can in turn be toxic.

On the other hand, I think that the work-life balance strict tradeoff camp
shouldn't be dismissed either, because to do so would imply that, if one does
not love their job and feel rejuvinated by it, something is wrong with them.
But frankly there seems to be a generally inverse relationship between the
inherent enjoyability of a job and its material rewards, and so it's an
entirely reasonable arrangement to have a "okay, thoroughly neutral job" and a
great personal like that is enabled by your 9-5.

The key is that one be happy and satisfied with the arrangement, and that it
be the right mix for each person.

>“It actually is a circle; it’s not a balance. And I think that is worth
everybody paying attention to it. You never want to be that guy — and we all
have a coworker who’s that person — who as soon as they come into a meeting
they drain all the energy out of the room. You can just feel the energy go
whoosh! You don’t want to be that guy. You want to come into the office and
give everyone a kick in their step.”

This, I think is unilaterally true but actually independent from his first
point.

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Retra
Jeff Bezos doesn't need to work a single day for the rest of his life. So
people "take it cynically", because it is very easy to give advice from a
position where you don't have to take it.

Some of us have bills to pay and families to raise. Even if I am miserable
because I have to spend my 8 hours of sunlight making CEO Von Richenstein
wealthier, I can't just walk away and take the risk that my next job will be
different. It's just stressful.

So work-life balance means... valuing your time as your own. It's pretty rich
for someone who only works because they want to to suggest that the rest of us
should do the same without any of the same security.

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hkmurakami
Q - given the need to take a boring, possibly bad/negative/stressful job that
is needed to pay the bills and support the family, is it within one's power to
choose between feeling that this is (1) a resentful, negative, bad situation,
or (2) a nonideal, but necessary siutation, and to take satisfaction and pride
in the fact that you're supporting your family? IDK.

~~~
Retra
(2) happens by leaving your work at work and doing what you enjoy at home.
"Work-life balance", etc.

I don't need Jeff fucking Besos to tell me that there is something wrong with
me if I cannot be happy making other people richer at the expense of my own
time.

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teaspoons
For the likes of Bezos work is completely optional and for themselves, they
get to choose what work they feel like doing and when. That kind of autonomy
has the effect of motivating one to work hard and enjoy it. Which is why Bezos
can afford to be happy at work and "come home with tremendous energy"

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ryandvm
I think he's right, but only if you're doing a job that you enjoy like running
your own company. Let's give him a mop and put him on bathroom duty in an
Amazon warehouse and see how much "work-life harmony" he finds...

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goombastic
Looks like he is enthusiastic about other people working for his money.

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Dotnaught
What does that even mean?

How it is debilitating? No explanation.

Work/life balance asserts a distinction between a job and unpaid time, as if
labor rights didn't draw that line. It says nothing about emotional state.

There is a strict tradeoff in many cases; you're on the clock or you're not.
But many companies prefer those boundaries get ignored.

"It actually is a circle; it’s not a balance."

Maybe it's a triangle or polygon.

It sounds like an oblique way of arguing that Amazon workers should work long
hours and are to blame if they're not enthusiastic about this.

~~~
FooHentai
>How it is debilitating?

All these human resources taking it upon themselves to optimize for 'work/life
balance' is debilitating to the business owner's extraction of labour for
profit.

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mc32
The irony is that it's not likely the overworked and underpaid sweatshop
hourlies & temps in the warehouses demanding work-life balance but rather the
highly paid "professionals" in the nice glass HQ buildings with all their nap
pods, masseuses &c.

~~~
mantas
Nap pods and all that jazz don't help with work-life balance though. I'd say
it's rather the opposite. I'll take strict 8-5 schedule over 8-10 with all the
in-house entertainment any day. Taking a nap any time you want just means you
stays in office longer and do less "life" stuff.

~~~
gowld
Napping in the office means you can party until 2am and still have a
productive day instead of clockwatching as a zombie from 8-5.

~~~
mantas
Not partying till 2am before a workday is pretty good if it means I'm free at
5-something every day and can enjoy a nice dinner, go for a walk/ride/run, hit
the gym or whatever.

From my partying experience, no amount napping helps after a good party. The
next day is lost anyway. Unless you plan to hide from your colleagues in that
pod for the whole day...

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telltruth
If you were getting 10 billion dollar as your net effective yearly comp then I
sure you won’t care about work life balance either.

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shanghaiaway
Establishing Scope of Work, and sticking to it, is the fundamentals of
management. For employment, there is time and responsibilities.
Responsibilities should be matched to time, and if one changes so does the
other. If there is too much work, either there should be be paid overtime to
make costs visible for future planning, or resources should be added. Sticking
to 40 hours per week is not only good for employees personal lives. It is a
good management practice.

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wellboy
The mistake bezos makes is that his work is extremely rewarding, creative,
fun.

This is maybe only the case for 0.5% of all employees in general. The other
99.5% need a good balance, because work isn't as rewarding, sometimes
strenuous, boring, annoying.

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t0d
I think having attitudes towards certain things (or trying to force them) is
harmful. Work doesn't have to be fun, nor does it have to be boring. Work is
just, work. Still, its ridiculous for Bezos to enforce that if you don't like
doing monotonous work for 8 hours a day without breaks, you're a passionless
energy-sucking millenial.

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LinuxBender
Is this the same Jeff Bezos that creates a disincentive for his employees to
use the restroom, so they might meet their numbers in the Amazon warehouse?
[1] Are they still peeing in bottles?

[1] -
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16849520](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16849520)

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King-Aaron
Forgive me if I find his attitude on the subject to be slightly demeaning.

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harry8
Jeff, this distinction between your property and mine is debilitating. As your
customer when I'm happy it makes you happy and I can 100% guarantee there is
nothing you can do that would make me happier than to donate your entire
wealth to me thereby sharing the decisions you make exercising the power that
comes with it.

Every single dollar you keep is a a dollar I don't get. Just as every single
goddamn second your employees spend doing work stuff (including commuting) is
a second they cannot spend with their families, pursuing hobbies, relaxing and
living their lives.

It's a zero sum. F __k you very much for suggesting that spending time at work
is comparable in any way to spending time with your children.

Now we're talking about zero sums, the quantity of tears shed by Amazon
employees [1] is not a zero sum. You can fix that and it doesn't mean others
will be crying.

The question isn't whether Bezos has talent. The question is how many people
on the planet of 7 billion with his luck would have come out equivalent. Not
all, no sir, not all. But when I think about him that way, he's not a
philosopher he's just another arsehole who believes his bankbalance is
relative measure of his worth as a human. Cross the road to avoid such people.
Don't work for them.

[1] [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-
amazon-...](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-
wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html)

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kelnos
If I'm spending nearly all my waking hours working myself to the bone, I'm not
going to be happy at work, and that's going to translate to unhappiness at
home. No harmony there. If I'm working so hard that I don't have time outside
work for family and friends, even if the work itself makes me happy, I'm not
going to be happy outside of work. No harmony there, either.

You cannot have work-life harmony without work-life balance. It feels like
Bezos is just splitting hairs and twisting language around so he can seem like
he has something deep and insightful to say.

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mankash666
Fuck off Jeff. It must be very fulfilling to be the CEO and founder of one of
the world's largest companies. I'm sure anyone will be just as fulfilled as
you when every second of existence can catapult your already enormous wealth
and influence.

You should work at the wearhouse for close to minimum wage with no party to
upward mobility, and then preach about fulfillment - not the wearhouse
logistics fulfillment, but career and life fulfillment

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jinushaun
Yup. This is why I don’t want to work at Amazon.

