The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Wednesday 02 January 2008
Photocopier technician Timothy Hutson of West Mifflin recalls working extra hours for a previous employer, sometimes being on call 24 hours a day and once logging more than 80 hours in a week.
"It was a grind. It causes you to lose out on too much" time with family, said Hutson, 47, who has a wife and 7-year-old son. "They can pay you overtime, but they can't give back all those things that you miss."
Americans are putting in more hours at work, about 42.5 hours in 2006, compared to about 37.5 hours in 2003, according to time-use surveys by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The extra hours are a result of fewer employees to do work, fears of job security, a need for overtime pay and a hope for advancement, experts say.
Drawbacks include burnout, and an impact on health and quality of life.
"Forty hours a week is the golden standard," for a workweek, said Nagaraj Sivasubramaniam, associate professor of leadership and change management at Duquesne University's John F. Donahue School of Business.
The average workweek for men increased to about 45 hours in 2006, up from about 40 hours in 2003. Women worked slightly more than 40 hours in 2006, an increase from 35.1 hours in 2003, the surveys found.
"A very significant percentage of those (working more than 40 hours a week) are in small business, and they work much longer hours," Sivasubramaniam said.
Americans like to think they are hard workers, but they fall way behind workers in Peru and Korea, roughly half of whom work more than 48 hours a week, according to the "Working Time Around the World" study released in June by the International Labour Organization in Geneva, a global research organization.
In the United States, 18 percent of workers put in more than 48 hours a week, the survey found, which was the fifth-highest percentage among developed countries. The United Kingdom was first with about 25 percent of workers exceeding 48 hours a week.
The study, which examined working conditions in 50 countries, found that attempts to reduce working hours failed for various reasons because companies sometimes use overtime to boost production and workers want to earn more.
The 40-hour "golden standard" did not apply to Pittsburgh area steel mills a century ago, where workers usually toiled for 50- to 60-hour weeks. The guidelines for a 40-hour workweek did not take effect until 1945, resulting from the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
Working overtime brings some hourly workers 1.5 times their hourly wage. Sivasubramaniam said some people, though, might feel pressured to put in longer hours because companies have expanded but haven't added employees or filled vacant positions.
Other workers might want to show they're committed to a company, said James A. Craft, a business administration professor at the University of Pittsburgh's Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business. Employees see it as a way of improving their job security, he said.
"They are willing to take on extra assignments, even when they don't want to, to show their desire to work harder," Craft said.
Professionals might think working more will impress the boss, leading to advancement and pay raises, Sivasubramaniam said.
"When he sees you working 50 to 60 hours a week, you might be on the fast track for promotion," Sivasubramaniam said.
Employees might feel a need to fit in with a company's culture, said Bonnie Michaels, a work-life consultant from Naples, Fla., and director of Take Back Your Time, a Seattle nonprofit that supports paid childbirth and paid sick-leave legislation.
"There are expectations that are written and unwritten," Michaels said. "If everyone else is in the office at 6 a.m., then you feel you have to do the same."
Some of those long workweeks are being logged by business owners, Sivasubramaniam said.
"I usually work about 50 hours a week, sometimes more. You never finish (work) in time," said Gabriel Fontana, 65, of Scott, the owner of Gabriel's Shoe Repair, Downtown.
Fontana likes his job. It is a craft he learned as a young man in Italy some 50 years ago. He immigrated to Pittsburgh in 1970, where his sister lived.
"I've done this for so long," Fontana said.
More hours might not result in more production, Sivasubramaniam said. Working excessive hours creates "presenteeism," where employees come to work sick or tired and function at a low level.
"They're afraid to take a day off," Sivasubramaniam said.
Studies have shown that people working longer hours suffer health problems, such as obesity from eating junk food, Sivasubramaniam said.
"Some day, people will wake up and say, 'Do I want to make more money or do I want to like my life? I work longer hours, but do I have the quality of life?' "
As for Hutson, he's still in the business he has been in for 25 years, but he's working fewer hours since he switched companies.
"I work less and I enjoy it more. I'm extremely happy," Hutson said.
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