Modernity or bust

Ian is not unusual. According to a survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), three-quarters of those working long hours told interviewers that the main reason was a large workload. Ian’s company is in competition with a lot of others. ‘If we’re going to succeed we need to do better than the rest. That means turning in work of the highest possible standard and turning it around quickly. Everyone here works long hours because if we didn’t our rivals would. Yes, it’s stressful but I consider it a necessary evil.’

Ian is also mindful of the fact that if he wants to succeed he needs to put in what he calls ‘face-time’. ‘It’s important that my bosses see me as industrious and a hard worker. That’s one of the reasons I stay so late. If I went home before they did, it would count against me when it came to promotion.’ In the six years he’s been employed at his company Ian has never taken one sick day nor has he ever taken all the holiday he is entitled to.

Dry your eyes and put away your hankies, because since I saw him, Ian has been promoted to head of his division. And hey! At least he had time to conceive those three children which puts him well ahead of some of his colleagues.

CIPD research also revealed that long hours, stressful work environments and dedication to our careers have resulted in a massive drop in the national libido. Put more plainly: over half of the people they spoke to said that their partners were too tired when they got home from work to have sex.

Put these findings together with those of a recent study done by the TUC, and the picture looks grimmer still. It revealed that, despite the introduction of the European Working Time Directive, which attempts to put a ceiling of 48 hours (six 8-hour days per week) on the maximum average working week, over 4 million of us regularly spend more time than that at the office. The rest of us are working an average of 43.6 hours in that time – that’s equivalent to an extra three whole days every month. As a nation we are now spending more time on the job than anyone else in Europe. The Belgians are among the most laid back Europeans, only putting in a weekly 38.4 hours.