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Stephen says:

I’m going to try and avoid a personal dtiraibe. Firstly, I think a lot of Zappos values are great. If only more companies were as forward thinking, we’d be in a much better place. Secondly, kudos on a thought provoking article. Let me throw some of my own experiences into the mixing pot.I work as a technical consultant for a big 4 professional services company. My co-workers are great and we get on well and I can very much be myself around them but I do think its important to keep a certain separation between your colleagues and your friends. For example, I can’t tell my colleagues (or clients) about me being a professional poledancer even though it’s something a spend hours doing and totally love.Althugh work is important, there’s also buckets going on to get involved in outside of work which are just as enriching and rewarding. I have this huge life outside of work that I refuse to give up. I’m expected to work very long hours with no overtime pay and give my outside commitments up at a moments notice.This is wrong. My life is filled with the following things outside of work: I’m very close to my family and my partner. I’m a masters swimmer, I enjoy mountain climbing and dancing as previously mentioned. I write poetry and I’ve been widely published in the UK. This is my life, this is just as fulfilling as work (possibly moreso) and I get very irate when work spills over into life as my life never gets the chance to spill over into work.You’re also right about vacations shouldn’t be a “reward” for work however I see vacations as the time when I can hit the gym for several hours, tweak my diet and fitness regimes or climb the nearest mountain. I can’t do any of this in work and it’s just too important to me to give up. Maybe if these other activities weren’t as crucial to my happiness and being being an It consultant was more crucial to my happiness I wouldn’t mind so much. When I come into the office I don’t turn into a corporate drone. No one should. If the office can’t recognise and respect individuality then shame. We should all make an effort to go to socials and encourage cohesion in our office wherever possible. You should at least enjoy the company of the people you spend the majority of your day with. To summarise. I’d be all up for increasing my work-life integration if work didn’t already demand 15+ hours of unpaid overtime from me or allowed me flexibility to do more sport. I’m only alive once. I have to fit as much in as possible experience as many different things as possible whilst I’m still mentally and physically capable. I can’t do that on my work blackberry.