serving our country while holding a job...

I completed my discussion topic this week on the armed forces.  I discussed the issues on whether organizations should pay their employees when they are deported or leave to serve their country.  I was curious to learn more about the USERRA.  USERRA stands for Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act.   The USERRA was formed as a federal law.  The USERRA is enforced to “ensure that persons who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, Reserves, National Guard or other “uniformed services:” are not disadvantaged in their civilian careers because of their service; are promptly reemployed in their civilian jobs upon their return from duty; and are not discriminated against in employment based on past, present, or future military service.” (esgr.org)  A poster has been created by the US Department of Labor/Veterans’ Employment and Training Service to show the requirements necessary in the workplace.  I wanted to find out more about when and USERRA is the latest law in a protective act called the Selective Training and Service Act.  The Selective Training and Service Act started in the 1940’s.  It became an official law on October 13, 1994.  USERRA is an affective law to help those serving our country, have an equal work experience.   I learned that to be qualified to receive the benefits from USERRA you,

• must hold or have applied for a civilian job. (Note: Jobs employers can show to be held for a brief, nonrecurring period with no reasonable expectation of continuing for a significant period do not qualify for protection.)
• must have given written or verbal notice to the civilian employer prior to leaving the job for military training or service except when precluded by military necessity.
• must not have exceeded the 5-year cumulative limit on periods of service.
• must have been released from service under conditions other than dishonorable.
• must report back to the civilian job in a timely manner or submit a timely application for reemployment.

When deciding what to do with our employees who are also service men/woman, we must remember exactly what these are doing while they are away. The armed services do pay their service men for their time while serving; however many times this pay is not as equivalent to the pay they would have earned working a regular full time job.  This is where the USERRA comes in handy.  The USERRA makes sure that service men and women are treated fairly and equally. 

The discussion we had in class, this week, about insane workloads really got me thinking.  We watched a video clip which discussed statistics about average work week hours.  Something like 16% of women put in a 55 hour work week.  I am sure this statistic has increased because the video was made in 2003.  Technology has developed increasingly since 2003 making work more convenient to perform at home.  Because of technology, people can work from their home, the sidewalk, restaurants, etc.  With access to the internet on their cell phones people can access work information from almost anywhere.  Is this a good thing? Is it helping the workload or just making people more stressed out?  Employees under pressure or that are overworked seem to experience more depression or stress. 

When I was searching on the New York Times for another class, I ran across this article..."When Hard Work Becomes Overwork".  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/jobs/21career.html 
The article discussed "workaholics" and how when a person becomes too obsessed with their work it can become a negative consequence and can actually affect work performance in a negative way.  "The behavior continues even if the worker becomes aware that it is personally harmful — even harmful to the quality of the work".  The article discussed workaholics as a disease and if it was considered an equal disease as to alcoholism.  I doubt being a "workaholic" is as harmful as an alcoholic.  There have been a few physical problems linked to working too such as the following: substance abuse, sleep disorders, anxiety and ultimately to physical problems like heart disease.  Those are serious problems and if someone is facing them because of overworking, they should definitely consider getting help and changing their lifestyle.  Working overtime and afterhours can definitely be harmful and can possibly ruin relationships in the home but I am sure the effects are not as devastating and will not leave such a devastating effect on a person’s life.  The article did however say that mental health professionals now consider workaholics a condition that can cause both mental and physical damage, which is understandable.  I think that a person should work very hard while at work but while they are home they should be at home and focus on other things.  Leave work at work and home at home.  I do, however understand that sometimes working will have to overlap with home but becoming a "workaholic" and combining the two forces together daily can be harmful to your work performance and your home relationships.  Work hard at work, very hard, but also take some time to relax and play at home.