It has been a fact over the years, that the human body only has so much energy that it can be used over the course of a day. Even when that energy is properly managed, it will still eventually go away. That’s why longer working days are so devastating on workaholics. In the United States, working varies from person to person, usually on location, culture, lifestyle, and the profitability of the individual’s livelihood. A lot of Americans work a lot of hours and are more productive. Americans work more productive that Americans on the average are overwhelmed and the long hours are really affecting their health and family life. “For many professionals, working on the weekends has become the norm — a way to catch up from the previous week or get a head start on the next (Goubreau).” Most professionals work on the week which is called a workweek. A workweek is the total numbers of hours or days in a week that you have worked. How did we get 40 hours of workweek? During World War I, there were far too many strikes to have more hours of work which spread all through the Northeast. So it was decided to have 40 hours a week for working hours. On workweeks, Americans work eight hours a day per week, but for weekends, Americans work six hours a week end. Many professions work on the weekends, to catch up on what they have missed so they would not have to work overtime for any reasons due to the fact that they finished what they needed to complete or because they worked the amount
The problem is that it only makes them feel better for a short while and eventually leaves them feeling empty. We are now said to be a “harried leisure class starved for time. Economic growth entails a general increase in the scarcity of time.” They say it is as simple as this: increased susceptibility to affluenza means increasing headaches from time pressure. The pace of work has seemed to increase dramatically and we are working much faster today than we were in the past. This contributes to our sense of being overworked, frenzied, harried, stressed out, and burned out by our jobs.
Before introducing the workplace issues related to the development of four-day workweek, a clear definition of this schedule is needed. According to Department of Labor (n.d.), “A workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours, or seven consecutive 24-hour periods. The workweek does not have to coincide with the calendar week, but instead it may begin on any day of the week and at any hour of the day.” It might be the “four-day, 32-hour workweek – more leisure, less work” (Wernette 1), or the “three-day, 40 hour, compressed work week” that Vega
The theme of overemployment is a current problem in the United States. Americans are overworked. Workload has increased and society has experienced a loss of leisure. Overemployment and overworked can be defined as negative effects that occur when individuals are required to work more hours than they want to work. “Personal perceptions of workload are critical, as individuals have diverse reactions to the number of hours worked depending on their needs, lifestyle, expectations, and experiences. Individuals have different tolerances for demands and stress. While many, including professionals
Work is not something anyone look forward to stress, back pains, and talking to people. Americans work an average nine to five shift. Five
Over the last two decades, American workers have been clocking more and more hours on the job, and they now work more hours than workers in any other industrialized country. Annual work hours are 4% higher than they were in 1980, amounting to an extra 1 hour and 30 minutes at work per week, on average (ILO 1999). Workers are also clocking more overtime hours. Almost one-third of the workforce regularly works more than the standard 40-hour week; one-fifth work more than 50 hours. The growth in overtime work, while helping to drive the healthy growth in output in the U.S., has unhealthy social costs. It is taking its toll not only on workers, but on their families, communities, and, ultimately in many cases, patients, customers, and
Therefore, the work schedule of the majority of Americans is greatly time-consuming and restrictive in how their life is like. Employment is restrictive in the sense that it doesn’t allow for much free time for Americans to do things in their life how they would like. Hochschild states, “But without overstating the case, it seems true that capitalism is a cultural as well as an economic system and that the symbols and rituals of this cultural system compete with, however much they seem to serve, the symbols and rituals of community and family.” (Hochschild 187) Most Americans are employed around capitalistic ideas of efficiency. Employers require employees to commit long hours, days, and years of their life to working for them. Employers also seek maximum efficiency in the time that employees are working. This commitment that employees make to their employment takes away from things that they value as mentioned by Hochschild. Unfortunately, Americans are forced to deal with this because they want to establish economic stability for themselves. Furthermore, the work life of
Does Americans work too hard? Does working more actually reduce productivity? This topic has been part of a big debate ever since; workers right has been questioned by the public. Furthermore, the problem with 40 hour work week and limit on how many hours a person can work is part of the debate when concerning with workers’ rights. Additionally, there should be changes in employment laws to give Americans more time to relax. That way workers’ productivity can increase and it will not have a negative effect on workers both physically and mentally.
Based on the passage, people do work a lot of over time. It is important to understand, of how much, is too much. Working a lot can increase stress and induce fatigue. A study in Britain, has confirmed this. I have worked a twelve hour shift before. My experience from that was hard and overwhelming.
With long work hours, many physicians sacrifices their social lives and down-time for their career. Not only that, but the long hours pose a serious health risk. Studies have proven that extensive work hours not only increase mental stress but can even increase individuals risk of stroke. According to one study, “compared to those who worked standard hours (35-40 hours/week),participants who worked 49-54 and more than 55 hours a week had an increased risk of stroke” (“Long Work Hours May Increase Risk of Stroke."). Furthermore, fatigue is a serious danger to patient safety. Individuals who are tired naturally make more mistakes, and have impaired complex problem solving skills, which are vital for working in a hospital. According to a recent survey, 81% of physicians described themselves as either overexerted or at full capacity (Jennings). Many physicians are struggling to balance their personal lives, and even health, with the responsibilities of such a demanding career. Reasonable work hours, call coverage, and time off for illness or vacation are essential to maintaining the well-being of these vital care givers. By increasing the workforce for obstetrics and gynecology, by building interest in young students, health care can be improved, and the hours for current physicians won’t have to be so long; thus improving the quality of care and the quality of the physicians
Many studies in recent years have shown that most people do their best thinking in late morning and late afternoon, and don't become fully alert until about four hours after waking. Other studies have shown that many people have only a 90-120 minute attention span for a particular task, needing multiple breaks to be at top efficiency. All of these factors make it very difficult to have eight hour workdays, while also giving workers much needed recharging time, family time, and enough sleeping hours.
For the 35-hour workweek we leaned towards position number 4 which was to require businesses to pay 1.5 times a worker’s wage above 44 hours per week. 44 hours per week is about a 9AM-5PM shift, which is a pretty standard work schedule. 8 hours a day is common.
Before the mid 1700s working conditions around the U.S were viewed as “passing” rather than abusive or unconditional. With a long line of people willing to work, employers could set wages as low as they wanted because people were willing to do work as long as they got paid. I came across this idea when reading “The Wealth of Nations” by Adam Smith, when reading I thought how this old article written in the 1700s could’ve applied to our country today and other past countries. Additionally, when reading the article “The Myth of Sisyphus” by Albert Camus I came across the idea that could working conditions improve since Sisyphus’s work got gradually better for him. After researching, I discovered that some working conditions have not improved over the hundreds of years.
Do you always feel like you are rushed for time? Working your whole day away and never having time to yourself? Do you wish you could set your own schedule each week? Well, the time has come where many companies human resources departments have changed their ways of thinking about the 40 hour work week. Many human resource departments have now began giving their employees a more flexible work schedule as long as their work is being completed.
Workaholism, according to Wikipedia can be described as an addiction to work and is not same as working hard (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workaholic). Numerous studies have been conducted determining the effect of workaholism on a couple’s marriage, and their marital status. These studies have revealed that there is a direct correlation between negative effects of work stress on either spouse and their marital estrangement over a course of time due to loss of intimacy, commitment and belonging of the work stressed partner to their spouse. Workaholism continues to be the driving force for pragmatic decision making, mental health problems, anxiety and even severe depression amongst today’s generation, thereby becoming an idol and replacing
I do not agree that working long hours encourages people to consume more. I have some working experiences before. After working for the whole day, I felt very tired and I thought money does not come easily, so I would not buy as much as I earned. I would like to save it and buy wait until I think the price of the good I want to buy is acceptable and it is useful.