That's nearly six hours of extra work per week - almost an extra working day - and over one month per year. According to NSW Union secretary, Mark Lennon, this culture is taking a 'terrible toll on family relationships, health and general community wellbeing'.
Many of my clients reel in astonishment when it occurs to them during our coaching sessions that they are choosing to work long hours, despite not wanting to, and - even more remarkably - not being required to by their employer.
They can readily see what this self-imposed habit costs their families, health and relationships, but they feel 'stuck' in a competitive culture where everyone is steeling furtive glances at their watches, wishing someone else would pack up and go home so that they don't have to be the first...
They log on from home in the evenings, 'just to check email' and three hours later they crawl into bed, having ignored their sleeping partner again, after failing to unwind or think about anything other than the work project that, this time next year (or earlier), they'll have forgotten about entirely. They lie awake in the dark, guilt seeping in while they determine to cut back on their working hours 'as soon as things slow down'.
They fear that they're not good enough, or that nobody else can do the work as well as they can. They think they have to 'keep up with the Joneses' or they value 'activity' (looking busy) higher than 'productivity' (achieving the goals) out of a mis-guided sense of guilt.
In exchange for their pay, they give their employer not just the reasonable execution of their job, but much more than that - physically and mentally. In the most extreme cases, they offer up not only their time and talents, but their wellbeing, marriages, families, friendships and lives.
These are people who, 'desperately need a holiday' in one sentence, and 'can't possibly take leave' in the next. They 'want to get off the treadmill', while frantically increasing its speed.
Some use work as an escape from other problems. Others 'become' their work, losing any sense of identity outside of it. There are people who stay late to avoid difficult conversations or responsibilities. Others admit to feeling like 'failed parents' - choosing to retreat to the easy, predictable sanctuary of the office where they know they can get it right.
Some derive all of their sense of 'significance' through their job, and none of it from their roles outside the professional sphere, becoming increasingly one-dimensional in conversation and thought. Others are afraid of what lies on the other side of 'slowing down'. What if they stop, look beside them, and no-one's there?
For some, it's an excuse. For some, it's a lifeline. For some, sadly, it's family. Even when it's a genuine passion, the longer the focus remains on work, the harder it becomes to envisage the 'whole of life' balance that exists within reach. The harder it is to even want that.
Which could be a life 'half lived'.
“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. You name them – work, family, health, friends and spirit – and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls – family, health, friends and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of those, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.”
Brian Dyson, CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises from 1959-1994
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