Sometimes you may feel the need to blame something or someone for the stress you’re feeling at work, even if no one told you to work so much. There’s just no way you got into this all by yourself. You’re not alone. According to Gallup’s Global Emotions Report (2020), more than one in three adults (35%) worldwide said they experienced stress for the most part of the previous day. There’s also an upward trend from 29% who said so in 2006.
The week coming to an end
It’s Friday morning and you can’t wait for the weekend. Your job is getting more and more stressful and it’s been like this for months on end. After yet another meeting, your boss tells you to take the afternoon off as you look tired and have been doing a good job. You can barely believe it, “it must be my lucky day” – you think to yourself. Deep down you’re not even sure what to do with free time anymore because you’re not used to it. So lunchtime comes, and you leave headed home.
Not so fast
A couple of hours later, in the afternoon, the phone rings. It’s your boss.
He goes “Hi, listen, I forgot to tell you. We need to meet first thing Monday morning. I need you to present that new report we had talked about”. Even though a rollercoaster of emotions runs through you, you rationalize and respond a respectful “yeah, sure”. After ending the call you immediately start planning and preparing that report – which, unfortunately, is quite complex. What’s troubling is that you know nobody had asked for it before – it was only mentioned as a possibility – much less having it prepared on such short notice and completely on your off time.
Only you can see the full spectrum
The more you think about it the more you realize that weekend time is neither off, nor yours. There goes your afternoon and weekend with your family. No one really thinks they’re entitled to have free time away from work right?
If you ask anyone individually at work, everyone wants you to be happy and well. Collectively, however, no one really cares. This is because you’re the only person perfectly positioned to assess the total impact of all the stressors affecting you and robbing your time. Having in mind that only you have a clear view of this, then why should you allow another person to control your time?
It’s Not Us, It’s You. We never told you to work so much
It gets worse when companies get used to this sort of overwork and it becomes the norm. Employees are expected to show results, with no limits to time invested. After all, no one is asking you to work more time. They just really, really need the results. “It’s for the client, you see” they say. So they twist the logic to make you think you’re not productive enough, which in turn may make you feel guilty and make you work overtime.
Killing me with stress? No thank you
This is a dangerous game though. Several studies have shown the health consequences of overworking and of stress at work, with researchers linking working long hours (≥55 hours per week) with an increased risk of 13% for coronary heart disease and 33% for stroke.
Knowledge workers, a term coined by Peter Drucker, should be especially concerned about this situation. Nowadays whoever is working mostly with information lacks a physical separation from work, easing the way for companies to get overtime from their employees, most of the time totally for free. This type of worker is also more prone to interruptions during the day, pulling their focus away and pushing their work for later, which adds insult to injury.
Take action now!
If you don’t rest properly from work during the weekend, your energy levels will decline over time, meaning that you recover only part of the energy, but not enough to balance for the energy lost.
For your health, it’s important to regain back at least some control over your time. So make sure you impose work restrictions on your weekends, schedule personal appointments in advance to block work surprises, and selectively silence your phone.