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Old 04-27-2006, 08:09 AM
AGDee AGDee is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Michigan
Posts: 15,823
And there are definitely ways to work around those issues. Finding a company/industry that allows flexibility is the key. A lot of the time, it's the atmosphere of the company or the manager that sets the tone for that. For example, since changing careers to IT, I stayed in the same health care corporation. Some IT jobs would require a lot of weekend work, carrying a pager 24/7, etc. But I found an IT job that is 40 hours a week, no pager, only occasional weekend work (usually 2 hours every 4th Sunday) and I get comp time for that time, which gives me more flexibility with kids' doctor appointments and things. It's a very family oriented department and if I get the phone call from school to pick a sick kid up, or want to go on a field trip, the time off policy is generous (6 weeks a year sick/vacation combined to be used how I want).

The trade off? Money. I don't make the kind of money I could make in some IT environments. That causes a different stress, but it's better than being expected to work 60 hours a week!

Technology has offered more options (like working from home) but also have added stress because, in some environments, you're still expected to have the cell phone and lap top, even when you're on vacation, so you don't ever really take a total vacation.
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