But how valuable is leisure if it’s involuntary?
For many employees the weekend may no longer be a respite from work, according to a survey of nearly North American 600 workers by Right Management, the talent and career management experts within ManpowerGroup.The survey found that more than one-third of workers regularly get weekend emails from their boss who expects them to respond. Another one-third reported getting such emails from time to time.
Does your boss send you work-related emails during the weekend and expect you to respond?
Yes, often |
37% |
Only from time to time |
31% |
Never |
32% |
It’s far better to have money and not time than time and not money. University of Texas economist Daniel Hamermesh, who specializes in studying how Americans use time, points out that “a poor person does not have the opportunity to give up time to get income,” whereas a rich person can give up income to get more time. That so few choose to do so speaks volumes.
Give America’s middle- and upper-income families credit: They’re the new working class.
In 1985 men whose education stopped at high school or earlier had two more hours of leisure than more highly educated men. By 2003-07 the leisure gap had grown to six hours. In top law firms, hedge funds, and corporate C-suites, a 50- or 60-hour week is considered coasting.
In the Summer, employed Americans met on the beach to talk about how much work was piling up at the office. Or they just saved the trouble by staying at their desks.
Source: Bloomberg BusinessWeek, July 23, 2012
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