Americans work hard . . . at least they work longer hours than their counterparts in the world\u2019s largest economies. On average, an adult fulltime worker in this country works 47 hours a week.\u00a0 If you filter out hourly workers and consider only salaried workers, that number rises to 49 hours.\u00a0 Four in ten of all workers report working in excess of 50 hours per week.<\/p>\n
So is this a problem? If your attitude is, \u201cIf you want work\/life balance, you should go to work for somebody who gives a sh__,\u201d then it probably isn\u2019t a problem and you should stop reading here.\u00a0 However, if you\u2019re concerned about continued productivity gains and about positive employee attitudes toward their workplace, then yes, it is a problem, and you should continue reading below.<\/p>\n
Do we live to work or work to live?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s an age-old dilemma. If I work heroic hours (and get paid accordingly), I might be able to afford to lead the life I want, but I won\u2019t have time to lead it.\u00a0 On the other hand, if I work fewer hours (and get paid accordingly), I\u2019ll have the time to lead the life I want, but I won\u2019t be able to afford it.<\/p>\n On the surface, we might say that Americans are ambitious and are willing to work hard to get ahead. But that\u2019s not necessarily what\u2019s really happening.\u00a0 Traditionally there has been a link between productivity and an employee\u2019s paycheck.\u00a0 The unspoken bargain was, \u201cThe more you can produce in goods and services, the more we\u2019ll pay you.\u201d\u00a0 But that bargain was broken in the early 1970s when the compensation for the average employee (adjusted for inflation) essentially went flat as productivity gains increasingly went to fund CEO salaries and higher shareholder dividends.<\/p>\n Exempt employees (those not subject to overtime rules) are particularly at risk of abuse. In their treatment of exempt employees, bosses sometimes feel entitled to pile on the work assignments because they know they won\u2019t have to pay overtime.\u00a0 Many of these same bosses may not even think about it.\u00a0 In their view, the 40-hour week is a thing of the past and working long hours is the new normal.<\/p>\n Enter the Millennials.<\/p>\n They are often unfairly branded as \u201clazy\u201d and \u201centitled.\u201d They are neither.\u00a0 They simply reject the unspoken contract that says:<\/p>\n In fairness to employers, most are not trying to run \u201csweat shops.\u201d They are simply perpetuating the contract that has evolved over several decades.\u00a0 Still, it\u2019s that contract that the Millennials are rejecting.\u00a0 If they do feel \u201centitled,\u201d it\u2019s to have a life outside of work, and to be paid more if they produce more.\u00a0 Unreasonable expectations, to be sure, but there it is.\u00a0 Millennials are branded \u201cjob hoppers\u201d because they tend to change jobs every few years, but really, they\u2019re just looking for an employer that will offer them the contract they\u2019re looking for.\u00a0 When they don\u2019t find that contract in one place, they move on to the next.<\/p>\n As this tug-of-war goes on between old school employers and new school Millennials, older generations are watching very closely. If the Millennials are successful in forging a new contract with the companies who want to employ them, you can bet everyone else is going to want that contract too.<\/p>\n During the Great Recession, with layoffs happening everywhere, people were grateful just to have a job. If that meant working longer hours for flat pay, so be it.\u00a0 But now, with an active job market, people have choices, so if they can\u2019t get the contract they\u2019re looking for with you, they\u2019ll look for it someplace else.\u00a0 Enlightened employers have seen this coming for years, have already thrown out the old contract, and are working to forge a new one.\u00a0 They are revamping their compensation plans and actively looking for ways to help their employees meet, not only their professional goals, but their personal goals as well.<\/p>\n Employers today have a choice: they can stick with the old contract in the belief that these damn Millennials will eventually fall into line and stop making so much trouble, or they can conclude that Millennials really are a harbinger of a new employer\/employee relationship that needs to be taken seriously.<\/p>\n Which will you choose?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Americans work hard . . . at least they work longer hours than their counterparts in the world\u2019s largest economies. On average, an adult fulltime worker in this country works 47 hours a week.\u00a0 If you filter out hourly workers and consider only salaried workers, that number rises to 49 hours.\u00a0 Four in ten of<\/p>\n\n