From “quiet quitting” to “#workreform”, can college kids limit their work limit to a 9-5 schedule?
There is a wave of young professionals that are taking back work/life balance in today’s corporate America. Gone are the days where workers are mentally dying from their entry-level jobs for the sake of “sticking it out’. On TikTok, users are sharing just that. In order to achieve their balance, they are following their own rules:
- Only doing work between the hours of 9 am-5 pm
- Newer generations of workers are only doing work within the hours that they are being paid. This includes meetings, ‘homework,’ and other things that wouldn’t allow them to also have a life outside of their work.
- Saying No
- Users have expressed that, oftentimes, when they ask their boss why they are being tasked with something, their boss can’t give them a clear answer. If a task doesn’t need to be done by them and they have other things on their plate that do pertain to their job, they say no!
- Unplugging when they get home
- While this relates to rule #1, fully unplugging when one gets home has so many other benefits. Being behind a screen for hours at a time adds strain to your eyes and overall health. Unplugging after work not only reduces strain but ensures that you are not ‘accidentally’ doing overtime work.
Though these can be applied to most regular corporate workers, do they hold the same merit for college kids? Can they afford to only work within the parameters of a 9-5?
Firstly, there is no way for students to utilize class time only for all of their work. The average student has anywhere from 4-6 hours of class daily, while a 9-5 is 8 hours, so already students will have to go outside the mandatory hours. Regardless of scheduling, can students just say no or unplug when they get home?
Put simply, no, they cannot. This is not to say that university students have it harder in their own respective “workplace”; students simply have fewer chances to self-advocate and say no in a university setting. Since not every student is on the same schedule as an office would be, there are more chances that work will have to be done at off-times. Students are essentially put on their professor’s schedules, working around class times, office hours, etc.
Students could not just “unplug” after their classes, as they may need to get in contact with their group members or professors who offer a fixed hour to get in contact with them.
Outside of unplugging after hours, syllabi are sent out at the beginning of the semester; if there is work to be done, it is in the syllabus. There is no questioning the syllabus, no matter if an activity seems unnecessary or not. Professors have a method to their madness (we think), and every activity is always very important and not busywork…
While it would be lovely to be able to unplug and devote time fully away from school, there are catches to everything. College is a time to study and do your best in classes, but don’t think that just because there’s no universal time to unplug, you don’t owe it to yourself to do so.