Long work hours are an expectation in the United States, almost a workplace religion that reveals one’s ambition, dedication and productivity.
Only the lazy work 40 hours. Vacations and sick leave are for losers. Any questions, call me at 2 a.m.
OK, time out.
Those ideas largely are countered by research, economic data and other metrics, which long have shown that hours beyond 40, and especially workweeks approaching and exceeding 50 hours a week, are detrimental to physical and psychological health for the employee — and the bottom line of employers.
Output and quality decline as the clock ticks on. Mistakes are more likely. Some European studies show anything beyond 35 hours comes with fatigue, stress, mistakes, frustration and hits to productivity. It explains why some European and Scandinavian countries are adopting workweeks of 30 to 35 hours, and with success, with some claims that workweeks should be even shorter.
France drew international criticism years ago by loosely adopting a 35-hour workweek, even though the French nowadays typically work longer. Sweden recommended a six-hour workday on Jan. 1 to boost happiness and — perhaps against common logic — productivity.
Thirteen years ago, Toyota in Gothenburg, Sweden, adopted a six-hour workday and reported happier employees, lower employee turnover and increased profits.
“To stay focused on a specific work task for eight hours is a huge challenge,” Linus Feldt, CEO of Stockholm-based app developer Filimundus, told The Independent, a British online newspaper, and other publications. He said those working eight hours must take breaks and do other things to make the workday endurable, with added diversions in trying to manage one’s private life.
If a six-hour workday sounds fantastical, The Lancet in October published a study that reviewed scientific literature on work hours and found health consequences from working overtime.
“Employees who work long hours have a higher risk of stroke than those working standard hours.” the study said, noting that the association between long hours and coronary heart disease was weaker. “These findings suggest that more attention should be paid to the management of vascular risk factors in individuals who work long hours.”
Work hours and the news
The U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act does not require payment for time not worked. So there’s no requirement for minimum paid vacation time, sick leave or holidays. Such things are benefits and “[t]hese benefits are matters of agreement between an employer and an employee (or the employee’s representative),” the U.S. Department of Labor website states.
But President Barack Obama has ordered the department to update rules to require payment of overtime to anyone making $913 a week, up from $455 each week ($23,660 a year). That means on Dec. 1, people earning $47,476 a year will qualify for overtime if they work more than 40 hours a week. It promises to raise wages or decrease work hours for the middle class, the department says.
Bernie Sanders has campaigned on the idea of “bringing back the 40-hour workweek” with “the vast majority of people working longer hours for lower wages.”
Pittsburgh City Council passed an ordinance last summer requiring employers within city borders to provide paid sick leave to employees, but a Common Pleas Court judge in December struck it down as invalid and unenforceable.
All are symptoms of a nation working among the longest hours on the planet, with no government mandate for vacation time, sick leave, parental leave, holiday time or even a minimum rest time per week, typically two days.
In a 2004 report, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined from a research review that extended work hours cause poorer perceived health, increased injury rates, more illnesses and increased mortality. More recent research has added detail, even describing a condition known as ”leisure sickness” that afflicts people addicted to work who are forced to take time off.
The report also found links between long work hours and unhealthy weight gain, increased alcohol use and smoking, with poorer neuropsychological test performances. Overtime work also results in decreased alertness, increased fatigue, lower cognitive function, declines in vigilance and increased injuries at the ninth and 12th hours of work shifts.
The worldwide trend has been reduced work hours.
The International Labour Organization says the average American works 1,789 hours per year, which falls behind the South Koreans (2,124 hours) and Greeks (2,042 hours) but leads most advanced economies.
But the total reflects the steady increase in part-time employees ever since the Great Recession of 2007, which serves to buffer full-timers working 60, 70 and even 80 hours a week.
Germany has the lowest average work hours of advanced economies yet has “one of the highest levels of productivity” in terms of hourly output, said Jon Messenger, a York native who leads a team at the International Labour Organization in Geneva focused on working conditions worldwide.
On average, Germans work only 1,371 hours a year — 418 fewer hours (10 weeks and a day) than Americans. Their higher per-hour productivity level results in only a slightly lower per-capita Gross Domestic Product level than the United States. But Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and Australia, whose residents all work significantly fewer hours than Americans, have higher per-capita GDP levels than the United States.
“It is impressive to see what the Germans do and what they produce with shorter working hours,” Mr. Messenger said. “It’s not that they are lazy or slackers. You have to look at output per unit of input, and if you have more hours, you will have more output. But beyond a threshold, usually 50 hours, you see negative effects kicking in.”
Time off for Japan
Americans now work the equivalent of 1½ weeks longer each year than the Japanese, the workaholics of the 20th century. Japan still tracks deaths from overwork — mostly strokes and heart attacks — known as karoshi, while also documenting suicides resulting from overwork, known as karojisatsu, Mr. Messenger said.
Henry Ford established the five-day, 40-hour workweek in 1926 for factory workers, and the 40-hour workweek, officially established 1935, hasn’t changed in 81 years.
“We’ve kind of taken the idea that 40 hours is set in stone,” Mr. Messenger said. “That working hours should remain the same and even increase doesn’t make sense. What people want is to live a good life. Is additional work bringing that much more?”
Francine Lederer, a clinical psychologist in Los Angeles, has addressed the problem with her clients: “People who are exhausted and stressed will be depleted at the end of the workday, and that doesn’t make much sense in their ability to function not only in a work setting but also in the home setting.
“People need breaks,” she said. “We’re not robots. Unfortunately we are being trained more and more to be a robot and function at all times and at all costs with cell phones so we are more easily accessible.”
This simply is not healthy, she said. It leaves people functioning with low energy and less capacity, resulting in tension and resentment in the work environment and personal relationships.
“We are working harder and not necessarily more productively, and that speaks to the need for a systematic shift.” she said.
David Templeton: dtempleton@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1578.
First Published: June 7, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
Updated: June 7, 2016, 4:34 a.m.