Do You Work Too Much?

This past weekend one of my nephews told me he joined a new company. It is family owned and they informed him they have a four day work week. He told them he doesn’t work that way. Their response was: “you do now.”

The move towards a four day work week seems to be gaining steam but there is another factor here and that is an individual’s involvement beyond standard business hours. Working longer hours has been an issue for employees working from home since the pandemic started. In my nephew’s case, he worked extra hours six or seven days a week for the last decade while building sales for a small merchandise company. He rarely took vacations and when he did he made sure to stay in touch with operations. I recall him taking work calls most every visit. He probably didn’t need to work that much but he did.

I asked a few friends and family members how much they worked. Most said they had a five day work week, but the hours varied. The majority felt they “should” stay connected on vacation days. Why wait until you get back from vacation to check all your emails? This could be the work ethic we were brought up with. I was in this camp for longer than I care to admit. I know many of my co-workers and teammates also fell into this bucket but I wasn’t sure about friends and family until now.

(Photo by Tara Winstead)

A few others said they work longer days and felt a “need” to stay connected on vacation days. Calls from the office did not stop during vacations. Some are in management positions, others are not. This “need” in many cases may be a symptom that:

- Your organization is not staffed properly (you have too much assigned work or there is no one with the ability to back you up)

- Management has not designated a backup.

- There may be a ‘long-hours culture’ at work.

- You are just not managing your time.

Back to my nephew. He didn’t have a work related call this latest visit (that I observed). Now his work day ends and all business communication stops. Working only forty hours a week appeared to be something of a culture shock for him, but it is a culture he may learn to like.