Work to Live or Live to Work?

This prevents concessions or benefits in addition to those contemplated in Mexican law when a worker is pregnant or breastfeeding.

Yesterday I was talking with a friend who, due to her work nature, and electoral changes, could lose her job in a few months; the worry of losing a job is increasingly constant in people my age (28 years old) and especially when there are young people who in their first working years seek opportunities in the public sector.

While talking, my friend interviewed me extensively about my experience working in a huge corporate dedicated to telecommunications. She repeatedly questioned my decision to leave to dedicate myself to independent consulting, because by making this decision I lost my employment benefits and union membership.

Although I was able to tell my story and motivations for leaving, I chose to relate the cruelty of corporate culture for all employees, that in order to maintain an apparently "stable" job, they endure not leading a full life and have stress levels that affect their health.

Also read: WHY DO WOMEN FIND IT DIFFICULT TO GET PROMOTED AT WORK?

In that company, work is started at approximately 10:00 am, one hour of lunch is granted at the free choice of the worker, and the shift is left at 7:00 pm; there are two days off, but the company strives not to give most of its employee’s weekends. The work is purely operational, since being a telecommunications company, it has its highly automated processes.

In my two years that I worked in the company, I interviewed most of my colleagues, many of with children. They told me that, like the other workers, they spent at least two hours commuting from home to work and from work to home, due to the chaotic reality of mobility in Mexico City.

Not satisfied with the above, the enormous number of clients that the company has, caused many of them to follow up their pending from home, and on their days off, their direct bosses resorted to them to solve corporate matters.

Most of them repeatedly complained about the invasion of their personal life, because although they enjoyed a good salary level, they ended up dedicating about 12 hours to professional activities, leaving aside the attention to their family and even to themselves. Although it was rare for a worker to be fired, it was recurrent to observe resignations every month.

When I told this to my friend, she quickly refuted me saying that she would not have problems with this type of work since "she did not have children." However, I recommended: don't fall into the trap.

Although someone our age may have some freedom to dedicate the most to a company, in reality, we are sacrificing valuable time to start and invest in ourselves.

Youth and time are values that should never be ignored, and as much as young people are criticized for yearning for freedom, it is necessary to promote public policies that seek to promote entrepreneurship and financial empowerment, instead of employees who sacrifice their personal life for an apparently stable salary.

On the part of companies, it is necessary to consider new mechanisms and rhythms of work, since productivity could increase if they allow their employees to balance private life with personal life.