Thirty years ago, I was in elementary school, and I remember when my parents and my family use to plan weekend boating trips to the lake, camping  and other ways to spend some quality time (Hey, we lived in Oklahoma). By the time Monday came back  around — despite all the activity — we felt sort of rested.  Care to guess why?  Becaue 30 years ago, we didn’t have cell phones, Black Berries and the Internet to keep my parents connected to work.

Now a real weekend geta way is almost unheard of. With all the advances in technology, we do have the benefits of working smarter – but at the same time, we are working more.  A whole lot more – like, even when we’re supposed to be off and not working.

On many weekends, I find myself checking in with the Black Berry - just to make sure I’m not missing something urgent. The same is true during vacation. I know – it sounds silly to stay connected even on vacation, but its the norm. Most of us who have remote access to work email and servers, feel compelled to check email and respond to a emails that have a certain degree of importance or if it comes from the right person. The common statement “I’m only going to check a few messages, honey” can turn into hours of real work.

I’m not saying we should abandon the act of working remotely when an urgent matter takes place.  It’s important in order to be productive sometimes.  I would like to propose however that we revisit whether two day weekends is really enough. I mean this five days of work and two days off was introduced at a time when employees didn’t work during those two days – am I right.  Now, we do work on those two days pretty regularly. How about four of work and three days off  as the new standard. What about a  30 day vacation as the base? What would it be like if we went to hourly wages instead of flat salaries?

Until the next time.

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