Surviving Starting Work
Once you land a job, you still need to survive
As the summer of 2012 began to fade into fall, I blogged about a Bank of America Merrill Lynch intern who collapsed in his London home after three days of working non-stop.
The death of Moritz Erhardt, a 21-year-old intern, caused many to focus on the financial sector and its internship programs, known to be among the most competitive around. In response, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse recently issued new policy statements calling on their junior bankers to stay away from the office on certain weekend days. Morgan Stanley has said it may take a similar approach all in an effort to improve working conditions.
Others question whether newly issued policies will do anything to curb the energy drink-fueled work marathons that young professionals increasingly undertake.
Binge working
Last week NBC and CNBC posted extensive pieces on “binge working.” The idea of putting in crazy-long hours at work, however, is hardly new. Nine years ago Great Britain’s iVillage reported, “Binge-working is on the increase. According to a recent report, three-quarters of us feel we need to work more than 45 hours per week just to stay on top of our work-load.”
Though the 40-hour work week remains the official norm for most U.S. office workers, the government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reports most Americans spend more than 8 hours a day at work. Last year Americans indicated they work an average of 8.8 hours each day. The same report found that fully 35 percent of Americans work on weekends.
Beth Braverman, a writer with with thefiscaltimes.com, likely scoffs whenever someone mentions a 40-hour work week. She maintains a work week nearly twice as long has become the “new normal.” Her conclusion seems to be supported by the Center for Creative Leadership, which found that workers who use a smartphone for work are connected to the office an average of 13.5 to 18.5 hours per day. As Braverman notes, “Smartphone-equipped workers interact with their office a whopping 72 hours per week (including weekends).”
No one disputes that ubiquitous technology has encouraged an environment in which many workers feel they need to be available 24/7. When information is shared internally, many fear being discovered out of the loop. And no worker wants to be the one person his or her colleagues can’t find when an important project must be completed.
Beyond technology, many workers put in excessive hours because of one additional factor: in an economy still recovering from the Great Recession, they feel the need to prove their loyalty to an employer. Rightly or wrongly, many new professionals equate long hours with commitment.
Consequences of binge working
We know the dangers associated of binging on things like food and spirits—a bigger gut and a splitting headache. A growing body of science indicates work binging can yield its own repercussions, some of which are deadly.
Referencing the American Journal of Epidemiology, NBC notes that working long hours has been associated with cardiovascular and immunologic reactions, reduced sleep duration, unhealthy lifestyle, and adverse health outcomes, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, subjective health complaints, fatigue, and depression. NBC added these midlife adverse health outcomes might contribute to the development of dementia.
What’s a new professional to do?
Leslie Perlow, a professor of leadership and author of Sleeping with Your Smartphone, says we all need to disconnect. However, she adds that any one worker can’t do this unilaterally. Instead, whole organizations need to develop rules, policies and procedures that ensure people can walk away from work while simultaneously ensuring that internal and external clients are serviced to the max.
Perlow reached this conclusion after undertaking an experiment with a six-person Boston Consulting Group team. Each team member was given one night per week when they were unreachable electronically. They also agreed to weekly team meetings to discuss how the process worked. Perlow ensured full coverage of client needs by creating a safety net—in the case of a rare, real emergency, the worker taking the night off could be called.
Though some members of the team initially struggled with the experiment—Perlow reports some said they wouldn’t know what to do with a night off—it quickly became a success. According to a New York Times write-up, “Team members felt empowered and expressed increased satisfaction with work and the work-life balance. They started scrutinizing operations, like whether their travel schedules might be shifted to make their lives more relaxed and productive.”
As they enter the world of work, inevitably students and new professionals will be called upon to work long hours. Those new workers and their employers must learn to avoid binge working and disconnect. Doing so will create a healthier and more productive workforce.
What You Need To Know
Work binging can be dangerous and non-productive. Successful students and new professionals must learn to disconnect.
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