All Work And No Play Equals Poor Work — Dave’s Diary

My generation was schooled in hard work. Burn the midnight oil, put your nose to the grindstone, give 110%. Whew.  I’m tired just thinking about it.  But the truth is, it isn’t the quantity but the quality of work that matters.

A new study reported by CNBC and TODAY reveals that employee output falls sharply after a 50-hour work-week, so much so that a person who works 70 hours produces nothing more than a person who works just 55 hours. In fact, longer hours have also been associated with absenteeism and employee turnover.

In a Gallup poll last year, 40 percent of Americans said they work more than 50 hours every week, 20 percent said they worked more than 60. Additionally, a recent Pew survey found that 35 percent of adults say those so-called time saving devices-the Internet, email and cellphones- have actually increased the number of hours they work.

Bottom line seems to be that there indeed a bottom line beyond which time spent at work doesn’t pay off in productivity!

(Today)