Bad Work Advice on the Web

I have seen some very bad advice for advancing in your career in recent days posted on various Internet sites.

Some of these websites are even respected career boards and job search engines. It is hard to believe that the advice they are currently given is authentic and not meant as a joke. Actually, it is ludicrous at this stage in American society's development.

This advice is much like that I suspected to occur in the future on this link, last secion of the page:

http://hubpages.com/hub/Top_10_Tips_for_Women

This BAD JOB ADVICE takes the undesired qualities of 1) an undeserved sense of entitlement and 2) an immature, unproductive, and disrespectful, ungracious attitude to the highest levels I have yet scene. If you fallow this advice, you are more likely to be fired than promoted. It this advise is taken seriously, it is a short leap to witnessing more and more workplace violence and murders.

Here is a variety of what I have found:

FIRST, let's recall that in Soviet Russia under the Communist Regime, workers worked 7 days a week, 365 days a year, with no time off whatsoever. Industrial accidents increased to the point that factories built well-appointed relaxation rooms in their facilities and required all workers to use them 15 minutes before their shifts, at lunch, and after their shifts. It was mandatory. It had the effect in the 1970s and 1980s of reducing industrial injuries and also traffic accidents. Previously, people had been so tired they were walking out in front of cars and busses, etc., or falling asleep at the wheel and crashing (although few owned cars). In the 1980s - 1990s, the Russian republics began to institute at least 1 day off of work per week. In FRANCE, people receive 6 weeks vacation yearly.

In America, more and more of us are independent contractors and have to work 14 hours a day in order to pay the rent, so we are almost where the Soviet Union was in the 1960s.

The first piece of bad advice I see:

• Call in for work on Saturday and Sunday. Work 7 days a week.

It is well-known and accepted medical and psychological fact that human beings must have complete breaks for work ot study in order to be productive AT work. Even the Japanese who work 50 hours a day (joke) take 4 hours off for dinner and are refreshed and they don't work both weekend days. Asia has always worked 5½ - 6 days a week, even in the school system (including students, who often also clean the schools).

Online advice is saying that Generation Y and beyond, having grown up with technology, can't tell the difference between work and non-work: Blackberry, iPhone, SKYPE, cha cha cha.

These workers will burn out quicker than those who take breaks. The human Central Nervous System will become overloaded otherwise. The "advisers" say that people will just work 5-6 hours 7 days a week, and have a life, but they will not. They will end up working 12 hours a day. I've seen three17-year-olds already have to spend time in a psych ward to recuperate from this phenomenon.

Remember Logan's Run?

That's the futuristic story in which everyone is required to die at age 21. If we work younger people 7 days a week via technology, they will burn out almost as quickly with the physical side effects of constantly being plugged in. 14 year olds are responsible for a lot of gaming and web page graphics and receive good pay for it, so 7 years will be about right.

What can too much plug-in time cause? We have not seen all the effects yet, but some are neurological problems like hand tremors, tics, seizures, inability to control anger, deteriorating eyesight, headaches, burnout, and more. These are all possible side effects to look out for. With the trend toward hiring more and more independent contractors, these folks might not have health insurance either, compounding their problems.

My professional opinion from a counseling, medical, and workforce development stance, is that one whole 24-hour period without work and without technology every week is mandatory. The Japanese police force is required to take a workday weekly for flower arranging classes in order to build mental resilience and to feed the soul. Why not everyone?

See this BURNOUT link:

http://hubpages.com/hub/Job_Burnout

More bad advice:

• Work any hours you want and don't tell anybody.

When you need to leave, don't ask; just go - for however many days you need. Maybe organize your work and send a couple of emails to coworkers about it.

Just know that if you do this, the company will feel fine about asking you to work 7 days a week from there on out.

• Invite your boss to join your MySpace or Facebook network.

Try LinkedIn instead!

The other sites, like MySpace and Facebook, are not yet promote a professional enough business section for many CEOs to consider, but they may do so in the future with more adults joining. I'd wait a while.

It's also not smart to ask CEOs to join your technological social network - too many bosses of all ages feel they are "above" their subordinates and employees and give you a big mental demerit for asking them. This will remove you from the possibility of promotion in their minds, so be careful whom you ask.

• Wear headphones ALL the time at work.

If you work in an IT atmosphere that uses social media technology and the like, this is fine.

Otherwise, it is a defense mechanism used to avoid interaction with coworkers and bosses. Your boss probably watches your computer screen from his own desktop and knows what you do all day, anyway. American companies are permitted by law to look at any employee computer material at any time.

Just a note: One person I observed for a time wore headphones constantly on the job and was stealing computers, software, and information about company employees, government programs, private businesses etc. Identity theft and fraud, anyone?