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Coping with long working hours
How can I cope with long hours at work? I feel like I'm living to work - I just never seem to stop working.
First of all, what do you mean by work?
If you are only thinking of paid work then look at this statistic: four out of five women with families still do all or most of the housework. Even when both adults have full-time jobs, seven out of ten women do most of the housework.
Are you spending too many hours working outside the house, or too many hours working inside the house?
Probably, a lot of the time, you won’t even notice the work you do at home – so keep a diary. For one week, write down every single household task: what it was, when you did it, how long it took. At the end of the week, find a relaxed moment to curl up with your flatmate or partner and read through the diary. Laugh! Don’t shout! You’ll probably be as surprised as each other to see how it all adds up. See if you can find a way to share out some of the jobs (if you have children, rope them in too). If you can manage to ease up a little on the hours you work at home, you might have more energy to tackle the problem of long hours at work.
How much time do you actually spend doing paid work?
It’s worth remembering that the Working Time Directive, introduced in 1998, states that most workers do not have to work more than an average of 48 hours in a week, unless they choose to. There are exceptions, but the vast majority of workers will be covered by this right.
Find out how you actually make use of your time at work.
Get out the diary again and, for one week, write down how you spend every hour of your time. This is a useful way to see how productively you spend your time. You may discover patterns you hadn’t noticed before that will help you to plan a strategy to help you cope.
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