

How Some Men Fake an 80-Hour Workweek, and Why It Matters - r0h1n
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/05/upshot/how-some-men-fake-an-80-hour-workweek-and-why-it-matters.html

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lxmorj
Preferential treatment of seemingly busy employees is not limited to high-
octane firms. I worked for an electric utility for a few years as an analyst,
and it didn't matter that I finished my job in two hours per day. I can't
leave early or work remotely because my peers might _feel badly_. I can't do
the work of three people for a a modest pay increase of 50% because every
manager wants their team to grow! How else will they show that they can manage
just as many people as a VP? I can't use my extra time to automate tedious
processes because "then what will everyone do?"

Every manager up the chain wants to look busy, important, and essential. The
easiest way to do that is force everyone below them to run around like
chickens with their heads cut off, lamenting how far behind they are on email.
"If only we could hire more people," they cry. Even the investor interests
don't align with efficiency, because the company is regulated and earns a
fixed ROI.

It's an incredibly self-sustaining culture. If everyone believes you have to
act like a maniac to demonstrate your import - and you have the gall not to
spend all your energy pretending - it's reflected in both your reviews and
particularly your upward mobility. Everyone in management has a vested
interest in keeping up the charade, and you certainly don't want your peers
and their department's laid-back productivity call that into question.

