All Work and No Play: Can American Workers Get Their Lives in Balance?

Last week was one of the most hectic I’ve had in quite a while. My PR agency, ThinkInk is on a growth tear: we opened an office on the West Coast on June 1^st and we’re about to relaunch our website any moment now.  There was also a trade conference going on here last week and a sick daughter to take care of. I barely had a second to breathe – or sleep.

So I spent most of the weekend working to catch up, and to get ahead of the coming week. Amid the nonstop bustle, something jumped out at me - I was sending emails to both clients and employees throughout the entire weekend. And they responded immediately. Does anyone really have a life anymore?

An article on the Harvard Business School website got me thinking about the ongoing trend of Americans working more and more hours, either to keep up with the bills because their wages are stagnant or because they are afraid of being replaced if unwilling to be available for work at any time. Let’s face it, given the jobs crisis we’re battling, with widespread pay and benefit cuts, workers are doing more for less because they are terrified of losing their jobs. And their employers know it: squeezed employees mean bigger corporate profits. Add to that the slow, steady decline of the country’s organized-labor movement, and you’ve got millions of workers with fewer options.

Another (significant) factor that is making it more difficult to get away from the office, even while at home: our ubiquitous mobile devices.

The vast majority of us are carrying around at least one Internet-connected device at all times, and we are increasingly reluctant to be away from them. Think about it: how many times have you been off work, either on a weeknight, a weekend or holiday, and made a firm resolution to not check your work email or answer calls from the office only to break it because you just can’t stop yourself?

That’s what I thought. The same happens with me.

This isn’t good for us, people. Studies have shown that the more hours we put in beyond a normal workday, the more at risk we are for developing depression. Which makes sense: more time spent working – and worrying about work – means less time to spend with friends and lovers, less time to catch up on sleep and physically take care of ourselves and less time pursuing our other interests (if our jobs and families allow us time to have any!). European countries understand this.

We may need to have to start having more experiments like the one mentioned in the Harvard article. The researchers worked with teams of Boston Consulting Group employees to make sure they took periodic evenings off their mobile devices. Not surprisingly, the consultants ended up saying they were much happier with their work-life-balance and…drum roll, please…with their own job performance and that of their co-workers in the experiment.

This, of course, is kind of a no-brainer. We all know balance is important. It’s just a question of trying to work as much of it as possible into our lives. There will always be room for improvement.

What I Had For Breakfast: In Pursuit of Less Pay and More Hours - Welcome to The Way We Now Work

Three articles caught my attention in as many days; Harvard Business Review's article Labor Day: Beyond The Barbecue, Labor Day Lament in TIME and Majority of Workers Don't Feel Underpaid in Adweek.

The common theme here is obviously work. How we feel about the way we work, and the fact that most of us work longer hours than ever to adapt to, compete with, and keep up with the technology that chains us to keyboards, phones and laptops. And not necessarily for more money.

Now think about the progress we have made…

Labor Day was originally intended to celebrate the “working class" laborers who built the country (manual workers), but I’d actually consider much of the American workforce as "working class" today. Knowledge workers, officers workers and the rest of us who are always "on" - just because we don't do manual labor, doesn't mean we don't work hard or contribute significantly to the growth of our employers and the economy - especially with so many manual jobs vanishing abroad.

Let’s take a look at a Times freelancer who was quoted in TIME’s post and typically works 65-70 hrs per week. "Your work day is done when your work is done. And the work is never really done. You can’t leave it until tomorrow because you’ll have too much to do tomorrow."

How many of you can relate to that? No sooner have you replied to a few emails and completed a number of tasks than another dozen emails come in - all urgent, all demanding the same, immediate attention. It is a real challenge not to become "inbox-driven."

We can thank technology for this.

Technology has not necessarily freed us to be more creative or to work more efficiently. Technology and work processes continue to demand more of our time and attention, divvying up our focus into so many places all at once. Technology has created a work culture that frowns upon those not connected.

In my world, I have the following going on at any one time: blackberry messages, text messages, various IMs programs running, a mobile phone ringing in between my two office extensions, my personal email as well as my work emails, dozens of news feeds, Facebook, Twitter et al. I’m not on Foursquare yet, but it’s only a matter of time… And this is before I get to my real work. How do I work smarter, not harder, in this environment? Someone pass me the Advil please!

So it's hardly surprising that the average work day has shot up to 12 hrs, or more. How can we possibly accomplish what we need to on any given day with so much noise and so many distractions? Is this what the new normal means?

Did we create it, or did it create us?

All Work And No Play....

Makes us very dull people. This is a fact.

I read a great post last week about vacation time on Firm Voice, a PR blog, and the fact that Americans need a holiday.

A recent national survey commissioned by Mondial Assistance, revealed that;

four in ten (39 percent) Americans haven't had a vacation - defined as leisure travel of a least a week to a destination at least 100 miles from home - in the last two years, up from 33 percent who said the same last year. An additional 17 percent of Americans haven't taken a vacation in over a year, meaning 56 percent of Americans haven't taken a vacation recently (39 percent more than two years and 17 percent more than a year).

Tragic, huh?

While I do agree that sneaking off for a "breather" in times of crisis a la Tony Hayward is a really bad move (then again, show me any good Hayward move), I think the guilt factor and perpetual having to be "on" is working against the American workforce.

Personally, I work anywhere from 50 to 80 hrs a week.. It's not ideal, but as a PR agency owner, I have to do what I have to do. When it comes to down time, however, I feel no guilt. Of course, the blackberry and laptop are my travel buddies, yet sometimes I won't respond to emails until a few days later - shock, horror, gasp!!! But these mobility tools allow me the luxury of time away, without worrying about not being connected to the office, or I need to deal with an urgent client matter.

I (try) to take 2-3 one week breaks throughout the year as this length is managable, pre, during and post holiday.

And you know what?

I come back recharged, reinvigorated and creatively pumped to keep going until the next break. And usually a good 15 lbs heavier, but I digress....

No person should feel obligated to spend every breathing moment in the office for fear of not putting in enough face time or losing their job.

That type of workforce is a thing of the past; the one that confuses activity with acheivement. An inefficient worker is an inefficient worker no matter how much face time they put in.

We have been empoeered with tools that allow us to work anywhere and everywhere.

For the sake of innovation, creativity and a healthier, more sane workforce...

TAKE A BREAK!