Do You Stay Late to Impress Your Boss?

Office professionals everywhere feel trapped by the struggling economy. The fear of losing one’s job has people behaving in ways they never imagined, from working incredibly long hours to doing just about anything to look good in front of the boss. For many office professionals, this means staying late at work and not leaving until the boss has exited the building.

This article explains, “High-paying, prestigious jobs are not known for their forgiving schedules. These aren’t 40 hours a week. They aren’t even 50. To be considered the top of your field or the top of your company, an employee normally has to put in some drastic overtime. For some of the most career-minded and ambitious among us, this desire to be taken seriously leads to quite a battle. A battle to be last.”

Fear causes people to act in irrational ways, and job security-related fears are a powerful force. However, is staying late at work, when your spouse and children are at home eating dinner without you, going too far? Just when do we cross the line that separates our responsibilities to our families and loved ones and our responsibilities to our employers and colleagues?

The answer to this question is a personal one, and ultimately we all decide where that line is drawn. Yet it is a sad commentary on today’s reality for office professionals that they feel obligated to pretend to stay late at work not for the sake of productivity but for the sake of appearances. How often do you stay late just to impress the boss? Is it working for you? Let us know.

Photo courtesy of alancleaver_200.