Got yelled at for turning off my work computer overnight to save power

I work at a small marketing agency in Portland and last Tuesday the office manager saw me shut down my PC before leaving. She said I was costing the company money because the IT guy told her restarts wear out the hardware faster. I was standing right there in the break room at 5:30 with my jacket on and she just let me have it. I tried to explain that leaving a 500 watt machine running 24/7 uses about $50 a month in electricity and that's worse for the planet and the company budget. She didn't care and said to follow policy. So now I just put it to sleep instead which still uses 15 watts but I feel guilty every night. Has anyone else dealt with a workplace where management fights small energy saving habits?

3 comments

3 Comments

mark_green7d ago

Your office manager is dead wrong (and that IT guy sounds like he's repeating old myths). Modern computers are designed to handle daily shutdowns just fine, the wear from restarts is basically nothing compared to running 24/7 heat cycles. You're saving the company money and helping the environment, two things any Portland agency should appreciate. Keep shutting it down and if they push back, ask them to show you the data behind their policy.

xena5827d ago

And yeah, @mark_green nailed it with the heat cycles point. I literally had this same argument at my old job and ended up pulling the power specs for our Dell Optiplexes to prove the math. Leaving a machine on overnight costs the company roughly $180 a year per computer if you factor in wear and cooling, while the restart cycle stress is basically nothing for modern SSDs. Your office manager is just mad about losing control, honestly. If you want to keep the peace, set a scheduled shutdown through Windows Task Scheduler so it happens automatically after you leave. That way you're not the one pushing the button and she can't blame you for it.

the_alex7d agoMost Upvoted

Reusing old IT advice without checking the actual data is basically how most office rules stay stuck in place. It's like how some stores still print "no shirt, no shoes, no service" signs even though that was more about the 90s than actual health codes. People cling to what they think they know instead of looking at how things have changed with modern tech.