“Workin’ 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin’ barely gettin’ by it's all takin’ and no givin’ they just use your mind and they never give you credit, it's enough to drive you crazy if you let it.”

What a luxurious life Dolly described…just working 9:00-5:00. I would love to only work 9:00-5:00. Unfortunately, for many of us, that's just not a reality anymore.

The life that Dolly described consisted of time cards, water coolers, and office dress codes. For a lot of the country, this just doesn't describe our modern work environment.

As we have grown and evolved as a society, so has our workplace. I remember talking about this with an executive at my former job that had been with the company since the late 60’s. He mentioned that when he started, the office was still primarily males, disregarding the secretaries. People came in at 8:58 and punched a time card, smoked at their desks and wore a three-piece suit every day. I don't know about you, but to me that sounds crazy. Disregarding the disgusting thought of smoke clouds constantly invading my desk space, the idea of dressing up to that extent for work every day sounds awful.

The entire concept of an office space is changing. People work from home, or work in a place where they can sit on a couch all day and bring their dog. Offices are seemingly becoming more accommodating to people's lives; however, I think it's all a cover.

Put on your tin foil hats kids, it's time for some conspiracy:

We see office spaces that allow flexible hours, on-site cafeterias and restaurants, break rooms, nap rooms, showers and gyms. Surface level, this sounds like our work environments are changing for our benefit. But I am in the school of thought that all of this change benefits the employer.

There’s a portion of Google’s office space in Dublin where people are literally laying on giant bean bags doing their work.

Google offices also have entire food courts just steps away from the offices. Not only is this food court convenient and accessible-it’s also free! Now I know what you are thinking “why doesn’t everyone work at Google?” And to that I say- the majority of them try at some point in their life.

Here’s a short list of a few more things you can do a Google without leaving the building: laundry, workout (gym style or classes), get a haircut, get a massage, wash your car, have guided meditation. The list goes on and on.

Every added amenity means more time spent at work. Employers are feeding off of a society that constantly tells us we should be working harder and furthering our careers. By giving us all of these things, they are enabling and encouraging us to spend more time at work.

Aside from the added capabilities of spending maximum time in our actual office buildings, we also have the startup situation and mindset affecting many Millennials.

Millennials like to feel like they are a part of something and that they are making a difference in the world. That's why so many of us have flocked to startups or startup-like companies. By nature, these companies are always small-staffed and always have immense amounts of work to accomplish in small windows of time. This creates a culture of stress that always makes the employees feel like they are drowning in work. This, combined with the fact that the majority of startup CEOs were that “really competitive kid” on your softball team in high school, means that the staff is competing to see who can work longer and harder under the guise of bettering the company.

I’m getting to this point of the post where I have two options. I could go on a really specific rant about startup culture, overtime and increasing expectations of employees in this day and age, or I can wrap it up with a few takeaways.For your sake, I'll go with the latter. Young people, seriously consider your employer before committing to work there. Too many take the first job offered and then get stuck working to death for a place they don't even believe in. Realize that most of you will end up with a job that makes you work really hard. If you end up in a place that you hate, you will become angry and bitter about the amount of work your job requires.

However, if you are able to find a job that fulfills you, the overtime won't matter to an extent. I love my job, it is one of my favorite things I've done in my life. Two days this week I worked 13+ hours there and another day was at least 11. But I got up the next day and did it again because I believe in what we are doing there. When you are first looking for a job, it's so tempting to just take the first job offer you get or the one that pays the most. I can’t encourage you enough to take the extra time to make sure you are going to enjoy what you are doing.Okay, rant over. Get back to work!-          Bria