Workers in the IT industry may find this surprising, but outside the IT industry many employers offer a perk known as a "day off".  This means that one day per week, and sometimes even two days per week, employees are not required to show up for work, and are allowed to spend time with their families or to engage in recreational activities that are not related to work in any way.

It's like calling in sick, but you don't have to lie about it.

Some employers also give days off for national holidays, leading to something known as a "three-day weekend".  (Yes, it's true!)

There is also supposedly something known as a "vacation", where an employee is allowed to be absent several days in succession without being punished and is not held responsible for what happens at the office during the absence.  (Hard to believe, but some people swear these "vacations" do exist.)

IT ''workers'' generally don't qualify for these perks, but IT ''managers'' often do.  So this is one answer to the question of whether IsBeingaManagerRewardingAtAll.  All managers recognize that they need days off so that they can have well-rested minds to make their decisions.  When management screw-ups require people to work 100-hour weeks to meet deadlines, it is even more important that the managers take time off to give their minds more rest.  The workers obviously don't need the benefits of such rest, because their simple minds are not as greatly taxed as those of managers.  If workers were given time off, they'd just waste it anyway.

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See also FortyHourWeek, OverTime