Working Longer Hours

2305 Words10 Pages
EHR 101 – Essay Word Count - 1529 A shift to a post-industrial economy has brought about changes in the way that work is organised. Four significant changes to this work organisation are working longer hours, an increase in work intensification, the concept of emotional labour and the shift to a larger percentage of knowledge based work in the workforce (Loudon, Mcphail & Wilkinson 2009). The aspect of work organisation focused on in this paper will be that of working longer hours and the detrimental effects that this has on those involved, then recommend ways in which stakeholders should, and have, addressed these issues. Campbell (2002) notes that working hours in Australia, particularly those employed full-time, have significantly and steadily increased since the 1980’s. This is supported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2003) where between 1982-2002 personnel working over 40 hours a week showed a significant rise, most significantly were the percentage increase of those working 50-59 hours a week (10%-16%) and double the number of those working in excess of 50 hours per week. The first issue explored will be that of the physical (Kang et al 2012) and mental health (Virtanen et al 2011) issues caused by excessive work hours, followed secondly by the exploration of safety in the workplace (Dembe et al 2005) and of the workers themselves (Nelson 2012). The concerns of absenteeism and poor performance (Holden et al 2010) will then be examined followed by a look at the difficulties long working hours creates in establishing and maintaining a work-life balance (Bittman & Rice 2002). Finally, a look into strategies to combat these negative effects will be discussed such as the governments’ introduction and amendments to laws (Pagura 2011) and examples of workplace education and training programs (Bloom 2008) where preventative measures are heavily

More about Working Longer Hours

Open Document