It doesn't help a lot of us have unused vacation and sick time because we're scared to death to use it. We might get replaced for the slightest thing, right to work states can fire you for anything and everything and make up anything they want to tell the employment board if you dispute it at the unemployment office. People around here are regularly told there are a dozen more people ready and willing to take your job and your wage if you don't want it enough.

Its not only the fact that employees of today are expendable thanks to the lack of unions, but an employer's dissatisfaction can follow you and even hurt your chances of getting a job elsewhere.

I think a lot of this is cultural. I've never worked for a boss that expected more than 40 hours a week but everywhere I've worked there's been a small subset of people that stick around way longer to impress the boss. Productivity-wise, they end up being the worst employees. After a while it infects the whole organization and it ends up being a race to the bottom where nobody wins.

If you stick around longer than needed, stop it. If you're paid salary then work 40 hours and leave. Yes there is a chance you could be fired but you owe it to future generations to put your foot down and stop this nonsense. Demand better hours and better pay. If enough people do it we'll start seeing actual change.

If it doesn't, well, we can always invest in torches and pitchforks.

I just heard on the (Belgian) news about bore-outs and that it's a significant problem as well. They said 15% of employees (in Belgium) at some point get diagnosed with a burn-out. But apparently almost half of those were actually bore-outs. It's when people either don't have enough work or the work doesn't fulfill or stimulate them. You start counting down the hours/minutes until you can go home. After a while it starts to affect you physically. The lack of stimulation depletes your energy and motivation. The boredom affects your mood and 'lust of life'. You get depressed, basically. They interviewed a project-manager who had a bore-out. She'd count down every minute untill she could go home, and if she got home she'd just sit at the kitchen table and stare into the void until midnight.