Are you working too much?

Gone are the days when people worked regular 9-5 jobs, weekends were for leisure activities, and everyone got to sit around the family dinner table every night for a home cooked meal. Now a days people are lucky if they catch their family members in passing. Between our work schedule, the kids school schedule, their extracurricular activities and more - - it’s any wonder that we actually can remember what the family member look like anymore. We all complain about it – I wish I didn’t have to work so much, I wish I didn’t have so much on my plate, and yet it is a vicious cycle to break from (if you can).

With today’s economy it is a luxury to not have to work on the weekends and actually make it home for dinner. Many employers also want people to be “on-call” even when they are not at work – thanks to blackberries and smart phones. But, new research has shown that working too much can be an even bigger stressor to our already compromised mental health than we may have thought.

People who work too much are twice as likely to become depressed, finds a study led by a researcher at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. The authors followed more than 2,000 middle-aged British workers over the course of five years and found that those working 11 or more hours a day had nearly double the odds of experiencing a major depressive episode than their colleagues. (PLoS ONE, Jan. 25)

Many people miss work due to physical and mental health days, but what employers may not understand, this cuts down productivity, increases cost for medical benefits and just creates a work environment full of people who can’t perform at their best – i.e., more cost to the employer. What is worse – if you are not performing your best at the office, chances are you are not performing your best at home.

Employers should begin to see that having longer work days doesn't mean better – for anyone.