Managing the high intensity workplace / Erin Reid, Lakshmi Ramarajan

Tales of time-hungry organizations -- from Silicon Valley to Wall Street and from London to Hong Kong -- abound. Managers routinely overload their subordinates, contact them outside of business hours, and make last-minute requests for additional work. To satisfy those demands, employees arrive early, stay late, pull all-nighters, work weekends, and remain tied to their electronic devices 24/7. And those who are unable -- or unwilling -- to respond typically get penalized. By operating in this way, organizations pressure employees to become what sociologists have called ideal workers: people totally dedicated to their jobs and always on call. To be ideal workers, people must choose, again and again, to prioritize their jobs ahead of other parts of their lives: their role as parents (actual or anticipated), their personal needs, and even their health. The pressure to be an ideal worker is well established, but how people cope with it -- and with what consequences -- is too often left unexplored.

Business