Consequences of overworking
by: Brian Szczerbinski
While more hours worked means more work completed, the negatives of overworking out may weigh the positives. A Families and Work Institute study found that overworked employees dread their jobs and employer, make more mistakes, have higher stress levels, and are more likely to become depressed.
Cathy Stocker, co-author of the “Quarterlifers Companion,” said many young people who feel overworked will not participate in activities, such as sports, dancing and painting, that helped reduced their stress once they leave school. Twentysomethings cut those activities out of their daily routine because of a lack of time, access or money, Stocker said. And sometimes young people replace those habits with drinking and drugs, which only make the situation worse, she said.
Along with that study, the American Institute of Stress in New York found workplace stress has cost the nation more than $300 billion a year in health care costs, missed work and poor production.
Penelope Trunk, a career adviser, said this new, always-connected career has lead to the quarterlife crisis, where young people around 25 years old consistently job hop, delay family life, and face loan debt as they struggle to transition into the “real world.”
“When you are in your twenties, people think its OK to not know what they want,” Trunk said. “But by 30, people still searching think they are losers and panic. They become less experimental and not innovators.”
These burdens have not just affected production at work, though.
Stocker said the Quarterlife Crisis web site polled twentysomethings on how debt and finances might affect their goals. A majority of the people polled said money would keep them from reaching their goals or significantly postpone their goals. Stocker said other research from a little more than a decade ago found that the average person got married, had children and bought a home in their mid-twenties. Now, the average person waits until their late twenties.
Stocker said transitioning from school into the real world has become a difficult time for most people in their twenties. She said in school, young people see their friends every day, know the rules and know how to succeed, and participate in extracurricular activities that help reduce stress. But once they graduate, many young people find it difficult to keep this same pattern of life while working all day.
“It is a time in someone’s life when the world should be their oyster and where they can explore different avenues,” said Stocker about people in their twenties. “But they are already feeling boxed out. Instead, they feel lonely and develop bad habits.”
Becky Heon, works over 45 hours a week but that does not include the hour commute to and from work. After work, Heon spends her free time taking care of her horses, doing household chores, and answering any phone calls from technicians or managers who need help buying parts. Because of work and responsibilities around the house, she only relaxes and spends time with friends on Saturday night.