I really agree with this. I had the good fortune of getting an internship at an engineering firm that was managed really well.<p>Management did not seem to assign overtime work needlessly. It was an engineering firm set up to work on long term construction projects. So the the work load was cyclic. My boss mentioned that there were times that there was almost nothing to do. So people ended up taking vacations around those times, and sometimes worked less hours. But during crunch time, people would end up working 6 days a week, and longer hours. It seemed like it was appropriate though. The increased work load had a defined reason, and people knew that once they got finished with the majority of the contract, they would work less.<p>Management seemed to be of the opinion that overtime was a symptom of bad project management. Some of the technical areas where very specialized, so the available work force was small. So they were stuck with overtime. But all overtime request had to be approved by senior management (vp of finance if I remember correctly). And employees were compensated time and a half for all overtime. So management had an incentive not to work overtime.<p>That firm showed me that I really don't have to accept unpaid overtime, there are jobs where it isn't a problem.