Go home you've been working too hard

In the world of Street Fighter there lives two best friends, Ryu and Ken. Ryu dedicated his whole life to training and spent it all walking around in the forest and shit punching himself in the face because that's what serious fighters do. His best friend Ken can't be bothered with this, he has a wife and spends time being married and lounging around in his dressing gown and slippers. How did this work out for them? Well Ken has a slightly better throw and Ryu has nothing on Ken.

That's it; working hard and no play got him nothing but an inability to roll around on the floor when throwing people over his back shoulder*. Okay so it's just a game/sport but I can't help but feel the designers were trying to send us a message.

Now I've met too many people who have so much work to do they don't have any time to spend reading or learning new things any more. Sure their boss may be happy seeing them sat there every day past working hours: "Boy what a hard worker, showing his commitment". Until the programmer has cause to throw their boss over the back of their shoulder. Then scruffy Ken with his silly long hair who goes home at 5pm every day comes and does the same thing and throws his boss right out through the window.

I genuinely believe that giving workers more free time will lead to more productivity. With free time you can develop new tools to handle problems quicker than with the same old tried and tested techniques you've been relying on day in and day out. This is especially important in IT where new tools are coming all of the time, you progress and learn them or get stuck in the slow ways of the past. A relaxed home balance can remove strain on one's relationships with their family leaving one with less distractions during the work day.

Most importantly it shows a psychological understanding of how the human mind works. When faced with insurmountable odds the tendency to waste time on the internet is essential to preserve sanity. Then does the worker even remember how much time they spent on reddit compared to doing actual work?

There is already a society that demonstrates this fact in France with their 35 hour week and employees consistently ranked amongst the most productive in the world. Yet still the employers there complain about this law, failing to let go of established dogma in the sight of irrefutable proof.

Why is it so hard to find a job in IT where one can go home at 5? It's not just the worker who suffers but the bosses too and most importantly the worker's children and relationships.

"One of the symptoms of approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important." - Bertrand Russell

Here's a nice history lesson.