On this labor day, (you know, the holiday that celebrates relaxation), I will be working on a brief to the Third Circuit that is due on Tuesday along with a complaint and a production of documents (to a lawyer outside of my firm). I also have to read over a file for a fact-finding conference on Wednesday in Harrisburg. And, this is only in addition to all of my other work that is not due on Tuesday (responses to interrogatories, initial disclosures, etc.).
Needless to say, since I've started work I haven't really slept. I think I've turned in more work in the past month than I ever have before and serious work too (twenty-some page motion to oppose summary judgment? check! Brief to the Third Circuit? soon to be check!). I guess that is good, it shows my firm is busy. But, for someone who likes to produce good work instead of just producing work, I feel like I'm a blind person walking in a huge maze of uncertainty.
So, how happy was I to see that I wasn't the only person finding today's workplace a little too demanding? In the Washington Post, there was an article about working tons of long hours.
On this Labor Day, consider a paradox: Millions of Americans say they feel overworked and stressed out.
The article then delves into an economic analysis of this question
If employees are unhappy and overworked, and employers are having to pay more for unhappy employees, why does the situation persist in a rational economic marketplace?
The article then cited to professors who found that "service" jobs have made it harder to measure an employee's worth unless this worth is measured by "billable hours."
The focus on hours sets up a rat race at many companies, where most people want to work shorter hours, but no one is willing to step forward to ask for them, because the first person to make such a move will be branded as insufficiently committed to his or her job. (This is the case with any arms race: It is unproductive because you have to run just to stay in place. Everyone would benefit if the race is called off, but no one can afford to be the first to slow down.)
However, the article also found that
...employees (and their families and communities) are not the only ones to suffer. Customers and the economy as a whole also pay a price, Rebitzer said. The hour that the overworked and sleep-deprived lawyer bills for work done at 4 a.m. costs the client the same as an hour's work after a good night's sleep, even though the quality of the lawyer's work is better at 9 a.m.
I guess this means that while I suffer (irrationally), I don't suffer alone. Here's to a happy (stressful?) labor day!
