I must admit to also questioning the wisdom of discussing EGs on open forum, but as the cat is now well and truly out of the bag, might as well add my two penneth.
In a previous life, the work ethic I encountered never entertained the idea of EGs - you worked your conditioned hours, period.
After joining civil ATC at one of the larger units, imagine my bemused amazement at discovering the existence of an 'EG book' !! It was usually administered by the most junior ATCO on the watch, and EGs were taken on a fair and strict rotation basis.
At another unit, I can recall that EGs even accrued whilst on leave, and you went to the top of the 'list', on return to work!
Happy days, that I imagine are now long since gone, at most places. Times change.