Certain industries breed a type of professional for whom get-a-life dedication is a badge of honor. The phenomenon is on the rise, but is it sustainable? In this article, Hewlett and Luce consider their data in relation to increasing competitive pressures, vastly improved communication technology, cultural shifts, and other sweeping changes that have made high-stakes employment more prominent.
What emerges is a complex picture of the all-consuming careerβrewarding in many ways, but not without danger to individuals and to society. This constitutes a barrier for ambitious women, but it also means that employers face a real opportunity: They can find better ways to tap the talents of women who will commit to hard work and responsibility but cannot put in overlong days.
The hour workweek is dead. Some love the intellectual challenge and the thrill of achieving something big. Others relish the oversize compensation packages and status that come with the territory. Still, Hewlett and Luce see hints of dangers afoot: health problems and family woes for extreme workers, along with eroded corporate productivity when extreme job holders suffer the inevitable burnout or defect for less-demanding waters. Extreme jobs may enrich your company in the short run.
But can it live with the costs in the long run? He works at a major commercial bank in New York. The rest of the year, he works upwards of hours per weekβleaving only 48 hours for sleeping, eating, entertaining, and he smiles bathing. Sudhir stays late in the office even when he has nothing particularly pressing to do. Work-life balance. From the Magazine December Powerful intersecting trends have driven the proliferation of extreme jobs: Competitive pressures.
With fewer corporate officer positions thanks to merger mania and an influx of talent owing to diversity efforts , competition for high-level jobs has intensified. People are strongly motivated to work more than their rivals to win plum roles.
