The A New Progressive Incidence Where So Many People Working Long Hours?

In the article “ The Busy Trap” Kreider tries to convince readers to chose time over money. He makes numerous points including how boasting about busyness takes the form of a complaint. He insults those who voluntarily take on obligations by remarking that they are obsessed with always being occupied. However, the basis for such a conclusion is founded on only a few examples of individuals who were negatively affected by the burden of work. In Kreider’s opinion it is wasteful to be busy all the time because life is too short to work more than 5 hours per day and not spend enough time in one’s happy place. What is your happy place? Picture it and stay there for a while letting your thoughts flow. Notice that your thinking becomes more positive and somewhat out of reach. Next, imagine a life with minimal stress that includes little to no work and much enjoyment; now you 're floating back to reality because that type of life is not in the grasps of most. Similarly, Kreider writes his article as if most people have plenty of time to waste, and to enjoy themselves, as he has. Kreider’s overall point that people keep themselves busy to escape the feelings of emptiness is both ignorant and a reflection of his narrow perspective of the world. His opinion that people feel apprehensive when not working, along with the fact that most people wouldn’t be content living the lifestyle Kreider is promoting, plus his support towards the propositions of full unemployment and a

As Samuel Gompers notes, “I maintain that this is a true proposition- that men under the short-hour system not only have opportunity to improve themselves, but to make a greater degree of prosperity for their employers”(2). Men who are overworked have “lives to work instead of working to live” (2) which is accurate. They do the same thing every day having a routine and no time devoted into bettering themselves and having thoughts on ideas or anything. The author is Samuel Gompers and the intended audience is working men, more specifically those who hire the working men. To make them realize what they are doing by assigning so many hours to men. This is a primary document as it may have been composed during the midst of a time when men were constantly overworked.

If the workplace of today could be characterized by a single theme, it would most likely focus on the continual presence of change. Dramatic changes in technology, the marketplace and the workforce have compelled organizations to re-evaluate not only the competitiveness of their products, but also the core ways in which work is performed. It is out of this pursuit for continued survival that organizations have been faced with the notion of varying work-schedules beyond the traditional hours of nine to five. This paper will explore the societal and business changes that have led to a proliferation in flexible work patterns. This paper will also address the benefits and disadvantages of flexible work patterns for

Work-life balance has been a popular topic for employees across all age and occupations for years, representing a rising concern of contemporary human resource management and labor policies. This topic has attracted the attention from the millennium generation, who is stepping into the market and beginning to grow a career. Therefore considering the increasing demand, well-designed workforce planning with diverse scheduling options offered to employees appears to be extra credits for most companies. This research paper aims to communicate the positive effects of four-day workweek, and providing support for why employers should adopt this schedule for employees and themselves through 1) introducing background and history of four-day workweek as a work schedule option and 2) demonstrating benefits of four-day workweek from both employer and employees’ perspectives.

The author also insinuates that modern-day society supports busyness and most Americans have inserted themselves into this pattern, “if only by our own acquiescence” (Kreider 983). The author argues that busyness “is something we collectively force one another to do” (Kreider

Work. It seems like an insignificant part of our day. You clock in, then clock out. But on average, Americans work 43 hours per week out of a total of 120 hours, take out the recommended sleep time and we work 43 out of 80 total hours. Therefore we work more than half the time in our daily lives. The larger part of Americans believe in The American Dream. so employees believe in working excessively for the chance of being rich, having expensive objects and being successful. The problem The American Dream is getting less and less possible each and everyday.

There is a woman I know by the name Arla Finney. She has a full time job, she is a full time mother, and a part time student. Out of seven days a week, she hardly has any time for relaxation, not even on the weekends. She raises four young women to the best of her abilities as well as working her tail off to make sure they have entirely everything they essentially need. Often times she feels that she has to work over her regular time just to make ends meet when they have already been met. As far as free time goes, I’m not sure she even knows what that is. The only free time allotted to her is at night when she lays her head on her pillow. Yes, the woman I speak of is my mother. Another overdosed with work American. Many days I can see it in her eyes how exhausted and stressed out she is. Lucky for her she has a daughter like me and I try to help out in every single way that I can. But not everyone is that fortunate. It may not be a widespread subject in the news, but an excessive percentage of people won’t acknowledge that they are overworked Americans. Their stress levels are intensifying, their families are dwindling away from each other, and for some even their well-being is weakening. Some people are working so much and scarcely have anything to show for it. While people need a job to make a living, too many Americans are working entirely too much.

In Jeremy Rifkin’s book Time Wars includes the reading selection “The Efficient Society” he is analytical in his explanation of what is being considered to be an efficient society. In the critical analysis he details the time management scenarios that are addressed to make more efficient workers. Corporations need to produce more work from each of its workers and the way that the companies take the time to measure

Roszak makes a point in his essay about jobs being our salvation, where he describe there is no end to a working life. Roszak describes the waste of time in people’s jobs and that most employees don’t even put all of their effort into them. He figures

When employed labor is involved, productivity in terms of time becomes important, because the employer generally pays the worker in terms of time. For many jobs, then a shift from task-orientation to timed labor occurs, as the laborer’s time becomes the employer’s money. Thus, a separation between work and leisure occurs, as

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

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

This spillover was observed by Hamper of his Grandfather. “Straight home from work, dinner, the evening news and immediately into bed at 7:00 p.m. He arose each weekday at 3:30 a.m., fixed himself some black coffee, turned on the kitchen radio, smoked a handful of Lucky Strikes and waited to leave for work at a quarter to five. This regimen never varied one iota in the forty years he worked for GM” (Hamper pg.6). It is fairly clear that the monotony of the assembly line has a way of setting personal routines for it’s workers that eventually work their way out of the factory and into the home.

This leads into the final point Carr makes in chapter one that automation is changing society’s perception of work and leisure. Many people would agree that work is not pleasurable and humans like leisure. However, Carr argues that, “thanks to our bias for leisure over work, ease over effort, we overestimate automation’s benefits” (19). Not only does he argue at the end of the chapter that most people are searching for a blend of life and work, but also he argues that people actually enjoy work over leisure because of the sense of accomplishment and productivity they feel afterwards. Carr argues that we overestimate the benefits of technology, when it may not even be what we really want as human beings. Furthermore, the his skeptical beliefs regarding automation, tacit knowledge, and work versus leisure are central to his argument throughout this entire book.

We all know the 24/7 economy has an influence on all of us. Maybe because we use the 24/7 economy very thankfully. After all, it is quite appreciating when someone sacrifices his sleep for your service in the very middle of the night. As long as you are the one consuming, you do not have to care. Although, what if you are the one who are forced to care? What if you are obliged to care about your work by day, by night and in your 'weekends'?