How true is the work hour brag?
12-10-2009

Anil Kumar

I once heard someone claim to have worked 125 hours in a single week. Immediately my finger was on the calculator: 125 divided by seven days - roughly 18 hours a day for an entire week.

Include getting to and from work, washing, dressing, and he probably slept no more than four hours a night including Saturday and Sunday. It has somewhat become a badge of honour among certain kinds of people to brag about the hours they put in.

Although Bankers put in long hours during the live deal on the Wall Street, people from other sectors claiming to put in long hours especially IT Professionals and some from other sectors such as FMCG or Telecom are probably the worst among the lot.

For some, working impossibly long hours indicates commitment. But is it believable that all this chest beating is just that, a lot of noise with little to back it up? How many people claiming to work 80 hours a week include an eight-hour business-class flight, during which they may work for an hour, nap for four and watch movies for three? Quite a lot, it turns out.

American researchers have found that the more hours people claim to work, the greater is the gap between their boasts and reality. According to a recent study, those who said they worked 40 to 44 hours per week actually worked 36.2 hours. Those claiming to work 60 to 64 hours per week actually worked 44.2 hours. Those claiming to work 65-74 hours per week worked 52.8 hours and those boasting of putting in 75 hours or more worked on average just 54.9 hours.

Despite what everyone says, it is extremely rare for anyone to put in more than 55-60 hours per week of real work. There are all kinds of theories for why this discrepancy exists. In some cases, people are just bidding up their work weeks to sound good and the numbers become divorced from reality.

So the next time you hear someone brag about long work hours he or she is putting in, you know how much of it is true and how ridiculously that person is lying to you. I would say there is no point in bragging as it indicates that the person is not enjoying a good work life balance. After all, just working all the time and not enjoying life is such a turn-off. Don’t you think?

The views expressed here are those of the writer and not necessarily of expressindia.com
Post Comments | Read all Comments