Working Long Hours

Table of Contents

Introduction3

Discussion4

Impact of Family Dynamics4

Impact of Poverty on Working Conditions5

Compulsive Buying6

Global Perspective6

Work as Self Identity8

Retirement planning10

Conclusion12

References14

Working Long Hours

Introduction

Today's business environment can be ideally defined as a challenging and fast paced entity. Organizations now have to contend with factors such as; global competition and international markets. The consumers have become ever more empowered, as they have access to limitless options to purchase their choice of products/services. These consumers demand the best product at the lowest prices, whereas the concepts of consumer loyalty have now become relatively fickle. Only the businesses those are capable of satisfying the volatile and the increasing customer demands, can survive in this high level of competition.

This environment has forced organizations to achieve the maximum level of productivity with the most efficient use of resources. This means that employees today have more challenging job descriptions and the wages are relatively low. These employees have to work for longer hours at more challenging job environments to maintain their desired lifestyles. The global recession in the job market has also had an adverse impact on the general work environment. Since there are a limited number of jobs available, there is more competition in the job industry. Individuals have to perform at higher productivity levels to keep their jobs, which translates into longer working hours. Due to the global nature of modern organizations, the dynamics of the conventional working week has also been drastically altered. Organizations now seek to maintain a 24/7 approach to satisfying their diversified consumer base. Since the consumer demand is present at all times; the organizations are now forced to increase their operational days within the week, in order to satisfy the consumer demands. Long working job environment has now become a social norm, as it is an essential requirement to finance a certain level of lifestyle.

Discussion

Global competition is only one of the major factors which have resulted in the longer working hours in the work environment. There are several socio economic factors which have led to the advent of this phenomenon. Organizations in New Zealand are globally renowned for having some of the longest working hours for their employees. In fact Messenger (2004) conducted a comprehensive study of the global trends of working hours, and it eventually concluded that New Zealand was only second to Japan when it came to long working hours. In New Zealand there were a staggering number of employees who were working for 50+ hours per week. The study also concluded that the amount of employees who spend long working hours has been consistently increasing in the past two decades.

Impact of Family Dynamics

The family dynamics of an individual have a significant impact on his decision to work for longer hours. As the family members that depend on the individual increase, the person has to put in a greater effort at work, to fulfill the financial responsibilities. The fact is that the cost of raising children is significantly high, and parents have to work for longer hours to support ...