Extreme Employees

Although some countries like France and Australia have begun to experiment with additional vacation time to balance work and personal happiness, the worldwide trend has progressed in the opposite direction. For example, Japan has long been known for its excruciating workweeks. Employees in other countries are falling victim to longer and longer hours at the office in recent years, too. The result is a new type of employee, called the "extreme employee."

From a pool of more than two million surveys of high-salaried employees in the US, it's clear that you need to work more if you want to advance up the corporate ladder. The extreme employee demonstrates more than simple dedication to the company, though. He believes in the propositionthat there's always more he could--and should!--do. If you count the time it takes to commute to the office, then 70-hour workweeks are common. He makes himself available to clients and office emergencies 24-7 as well. He also takes far fewer vacation days than he's allotted, roughly ten days or less per year.

Worse, however, and perhaps more exasperating, is the fact that most extreme employees admitdissatisfaction. More than half believe they would be physically healthier with less work. A lack of free time also harms the relationship with their children. Slightly less than half complained that the long hours had a detrimental effect on spousal relations.

Experts advocate discovering ways to get the seventy-hour workweek down to a more modest forty-five hours. Although corporations haven't yet accomplished this feat for high-impact jobs, some major corporations are trying. American Express, Johnson & Johnson, and more than thirty others are working towards ways to reduce the pressure on managers to perform and produce.