Working Weekends

Are you working too hard? We encouraged members to confess their weekend working sins and tell us if they are using their days of rest for career maintenance.

You responded with a sobering fact: It's not a question of 'if' we're working weekends, but how much.

'I am embarrassed to tell you how much time I spend at home doing things for my job!' writes iVillager Marge. 'At this very moment I am searching the Net for work-related info, simultaneously copying tapes to use in educational programmes, and reading over material that needs to be presented at the next meeting.'

'It sounds worse now that I'm talking about it,' she continued. 'This morning as I was looking around the house thinking to myself how shabby this place looks, I realised that it was probably due to the fact that I spend a tremendous amount of time at home doing work stuff instead of home stuff! Blimey, it has got to stop. But how?'

The Call of the Office

Working weekends has evolved from a guilty sin of corporate life into a necessity of modern careers.

The UK has the longest working hours in the European Union. A recent study by the Institute of Personnel Development suggests that 2.7 million workers work more than 48 hours a week, with the majority of these workers not getting paid for overtime; and 22 per cent of workers work outside office hours every day of the week. Management Today reports that 10 per cent of managers work more than six days a week as part of their normal routine.

'I have been taking work home for about the last four weekends in the hope of getting the job done,' writes one iVillage member. 'It used to be easier going into the office on Saturdays, but my bosses found out and decided to come in on Saturdays, hoping I would be there. So, I was doing the work they were giving me instead of what I wanted and getting further behind. Now that I have access to a computer at home, I am able to get more done.'