42% of workers working on Labor Day

[Kronk]

http://tinyurl.com/blzw8

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- For some Americans, Labor Day isn't so much about relaxing from hard work as it is about laboring -- at least a little -- to keep up with that hard work, according to a new poll.

Forty-two percent of U.S. workers said they'll be doing some type of work on Monday, ranging from the cursory -- checking e-mail or voice mail -- up to traveling for work or going into the office, according to a survey of 1,169 U.S. workers by Development Dimensions International, a human-resources consulting firm.

Much of the work is likely to be of short duration and from the comfort of home: 28% will check e-mail or voice mail, 14% will catch up on work-related reading and 11% will sort through mail.

But 18% said they'd be heading into the office, and 3% said they'd be traveling for work.

"Americans are working harder than ever, even to the point where they can't seem to enjoy an eight-hour holiday," said Rich Wellins, senior vice president at DDI, in Pittsburgh.

"Some of those people may be in retail and have to work, but [for] a lot of them it's to stay connected," he said.

"They may have their grilling spatula in one hand and their Blackberry in the other. They're going to be doing e-mail, catching up on paperwork, checking voice mail," he said.

Still, more than half of those polled -- 58% -- plan to do no work whatsoever this holiday.

Not pressured into working

And most of those who plan to work are doing so of their own volition, not because of pressure from the boss: 79% of those polled said they're not pressured by anyone to do the work.

Then again, the boss might not be exerting pressure directly, but the dictates of the job often require extra hours, according to a separate DDI survey of about 4,500 managers worldwide.

For some of those managers, company restructurings and job re-designs are leading to the feeling of overwhelming workloads.

In the global study, managers worked an average of 51 hours per week, and almost one-third of the U.S. managers said they don't have a good balance between work and life.

Of those, 72% said the amount of work they're expected to handle is the main reason, while just 22% of the overwhelmed managers said they're manager or supervisor expects them to work that hard.

Lack of work-life balance may be self-imposed

But another major driver of working around the clock "is a desire for achievement," Wellins said. It's "the good old American work ethic, and the desire for ambition, the desire to get ahead."

Sixty-seven percent of the overwhelmed managers said an "internal drive for achievement" is the factor, and 49% said their own ambition to succeed or promote their career is leading to them work too hard.

Meanwhile, a separate survey finds satisfaction with work-life balance has a lot to do with how much money you earn: Just 28% of workers earning $20,000 to $40,000 said they're very satisfied with work-life balance compared with 46% of those earning $100,000 or more, according to a survey of 1,891 U.S. workers by Hudson, a global staffing and consulting firm.

Still, American workers appear to be a relatively happy lot: 70% of the workers overall said they have fun at work, according to the Hudson survey.

Another reason American employees are more likely to work on holidays: Technology has made staying connected that much easier.

"If today we didn't have work e-mail and voice mail," Wellins said, "I don't think people would work on Labor Day."

[azanon]

Quote:

Forty-two percent of U.S. workers said they'll be doing some type of work on Monday, ranging from the cursory -- checking e-mail or voice mail -- up to traveling for work or going into the office, according to a survey of 1,169 U.S. workers by Development Dimensions International, a human-resources consulting firm. Much of the work is likely to be of short duration and from the comfort of home: 28% will check e-mail or voice mail, 14% will catch up on work-related reading and 11% will sort through mail.

Calling that work is a stretch. That's a misleading article heading. If checking email is work, i've worked every day of my life for the last several years.

[Kronk]

Do you use your work email for personal email messages? The implication that it is work-related email those people are checking.

[azanon]

If i'm at work, i sometimes do, depending on who the person is. A lot of the employees i work with set their email up so that they can check it at home and we're allowed to do that, thought i dont have mine set up that way.

My point wasn't so much that as it was to just say just the act of reading your email or going through mail is hardly what i visualize as work. When i hear "42% of people work on labor day", i'm envisioning people commuting to work to put an 8+ hr day. The article in the finer print clarified that's not what they really meant.

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by azanon If i'm at work, i sometimes do, depending on who the person is.* *A lot of the employees i work with set their email up so that they can check it at home and we're allowed to do that, thought i dont have mine set up that way.* My point wasn't so much that as it was to just say just the act of reading your email or going through mail is hardly what i visualize as work.* *When i hear "42% of people work on labor day", i'm envisioning people commuting to work to put an 8+ hr day.* *The article in the finer print clarified that's not what they really meant.

That just goes to show how people interpret things differently... It never said that people were workign a full day which is what you envision. But, if you put in 2 or 4 hours of sorting through emails or other mail etc. or reading a contract or whatever... you are doing something FOR YOUR WORK and not enjoying the HOLIDAY. That is what the article is trying to say...

But, I would want to know how many of these people are 'working' on the weekends.. I know people who are looking at their blackberry all weekend, which to me is work.

[SteveR]

I learned several years ago that the more you do, the more they will ask you to do. Do enough to justify your paycheck and you can survive your working years without having to become a slave to management. With all the cut-backs over the past two decades, those that are left do twice and three times the work. The aveage of 51 hours seems too low to me. I know many management people who are supposed to work a 40 hour week but end up much closer to 60+ week after week. I can't remember working only 40 hours in a single week unless there was a holiday in it somewhere.

Ambition is a self-inflicted injury to your work hours. If you want to climb the ladder then expect to work longer hours. While long hours alone will not get you there, even if you are the best at your job, management still views "short" hours as a negative. Be prepared to work weekends, holidays, nights, and while on vacation (if you can take one). It is a matter of choice.

"You can take the red pill or the blue pill. It is your choice..."

IMHO, life is too short to give most of your waking hours to a company that would drop you like a rock when they get into a pinch.

Eat, drink, be merry and take vacations and holidays without their work to do...for tomorrow.....well you know the rest.

[Kronk]

If I have to turn my brain on to work mode, that disrupts my enjoyment of time off. When I'm not working, I'm not thinking about work. If I'm thinking about work, I'm working, so I don't think about it. If that makes sense.

If I had to check work email on days off, I'd be even more irked about working than I am now. I find it disturbing that that many people feel obligated to "check in" at work on days off.

[Craig]

Well, some of those folks working so hard ... are doing so because they've been thrown out of work perhaps multiple times in the past decade, know how tough it can be to find a good job, and they're saving like crazy because they fully expect to be out of a job again in their career. The American working environment has greatly changed in the last decade.

Put me down for checking email this weekend ...

[moghopper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveR The aveage of 51 hours seems too low to me. I know many management people who are supposed to work a 40 hour week but end up much closer to 60+ week after week. I can't remember working only 40 hours in a single week unless there was a holiday in it somewhere.

If you aren't good at your job, you work 40 hours.
If you are good at your job, you work more than 40 hours.
But if you're really good, you make other people do the work for you, and only work 40 hours.

[SteveR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charles Put me down for checking email this weekend ...*

Put me down for doing some minor cabin maintenance, cutting some wood, sitting on my deck with an adult beverage or two, sharing some quality time with my wife while I BBQ some shrimp watching the sun go down. *

I will NOT be checking email or even thinking about work. *We check work at the door and pick it up on the way out. *


I am sorry you are mixing work with your personal life. *I did that for many years and after a divorce and some other major life events, I learned my lesson. *My field is very limited, especially in areas I choose to live in, so I understand all too well about keeping up (ahead) of your job competition. *Sometimes you gotta do what you believe you gotta do.

[MJ]

Many years ago, when I used to go down to Miami Beach for vacation, I voluntarily brought my heavy bulky work Compaq portable PC with me. I could only usei to connect to our mainframee. I was on an average of 30 minutes. I managed a small IT shop and I really didn't have a backup. At the time, I did enjoy my work and must admit that my life was linked to the job. It didn't seem like a burdom to me. The last 2 times, instead of using the public buses, I started using the super shuttle charging it to the company. The new CFO questioned the $10 super shuttle expense. I told him, if I hadn't taken the heavy portable, I would have taken the bus. His answer was either don't bring it or have it shipped down. That was the last time I brought that sucker with me. This is the same guy who bought an expensive Sony micro cassette for $210 each, for himself and 2 other associates.