Work for many has become the ultimate extreme sport — high-level, high-impact workers pushing themselves beyond their limits; working around the clock and around the globe. The Center for Work-Life Policy’s groundbreaking new study “Extreme Jobs: The Dangerous Allure of the 70-Hour Workweek” (in the December issue of Harvard Business Review) examines this alarming trend and describes the new American nightmare in all of its sexless, vacationless, eating-at-your-desk glory.
Highlights of the study:
• What are extreme jobs? Definition includes long hours plus five key performance pressures. 1.7 million Americans hold extreme jobs.
• What are the causes of extreme jobs? How globalization, BlackBerries and Type A personalities conspire to produce overload.
• Where are extreme jobs? All over the economy — in retail and the media as well as on Wall Street.
• The personal costs: Nearly 60 percent of extreme workers believe that their career undermines their relationship with their children; 50 percent say their work interferes with their sex life.
• Why do so many high achievers still love their extreme jobs? They’re “hooked” on the adrenaline rush and gargantuan rewards.
• Women are being left behind in new ways: Few women hold extreme jobs; they’re not afraid of the pressure or responsibility but can’t pony up the 70-hour weeks.
• Why companies should care: The threat to the bottom line is real. Fifty percent of top talent is heading for the door and replacement costs can run into six figures.
About the study
The Hidden Brain Drain Task Force, under the auspices of the Center for Work-Life Policy, published the third of its groundbreaking workplace studies in the December issue of the Harvard Business Review. Sponsored by American Express, BP, ProLogis and UBS, “Extreme Jobs: The Dangerous Allure of the 70-Hour Workweek,” takes a hard look at “the American Dream on steroids.” Despite the seduction of these jobs, they wreak havoc in private lives and create “flight risk” for employers.
“How long can we sustain this souped-up version of the American Dream,” asks Sylvia Ann Hewlett, president of the Center for Work-Life Policy. “Our research captures the allure of these jobs, many of which are to die for. But extreme jobs come with extreme risk to individuals and corporations.”
The Center for Work-Life Policy (CWLP) works with employers to create workplace policies that enhance personal/family well-being, increase productivity, and reach across the divides of gender, race and class. For more information, visit http://www.worklifepolicy.org/.
