Task

You may say it is not entirely satisfactory if an academic staff could only focus on some serious work when there's a typhoon. I felt the same on my way home.

But, the root problem is actually more subtle.

It goes like this: There are, in general, two kinds of job; one being task based, the other duration based.

For canteen cashiers, security guards, or, really, nurses, the duty is defined by the length of time - there's no responsibility as soon as they're off work. (I'm sure our nursing specialists and department operation manager would stand up and object because they have duty after hours. I consider that as the necessary pain when a job transform into a profession.)

On the other hand, many jobs count by task. A clinician has a number of patients to take care of, a lawyer or accountant has their own cases to follow, and university academics have an endless list of research and teaching projects to accomplish. No one would really care if you work for only four hours a week - as long as you can finish with all tasks assigned. (Of course, in that case, by the Parkinson's law or other doctrines in physics, your boss will give you more tasks to occupy your time.) For this kind of job, it is quite meaningless to say you would limit your work to 50 or 60 hours a week. No one asks you to work longer - it is your own inefficiency.

PS. A little friend of mine cited my previous blog on working hour (see http://drterryma.blogspot.com/2011/09/quality-of-life.html). I must say I never meant to pretend to be saint and did not advocate giving up personal quality of life. Unfortunately, the very nature of a clinician's job is not suitable to be counted by the length of time, and it is unrealistic to believe there are ways to limit the working hour without fragmentation of care.