Long Work Hours

by Charles Plant | Feb 15, 2012 | Management

In general, 30 years ago the concept of working long hours was something that was ordinary and part of the general business environment. There were periods of time where people were needed to put in extra long hours to get something done and if you were a salaried employee, it was a given that you would put in those hours to get the job done. If you didn’t put in the hours, you were not seen as a team player and it was unlikely that you would be getting promoted very fast unless your other contributions far outweighed your lack of extra effort. While there were periods of hard work though, it was generally understood that these would not last forever, that there would be periods of hard work and then there would be slack periods where no extra work was required and where in fact you could go home early. Thus the social contract with work was that while longer hours were required form time to time, on balance, there would be a period of shorter hours to compensate.

The concept of working longer hours has certainly survived the transition to a knowledge economy but the concept of compensatory shorter working hours has not made the transition. Not only has the working week been extended and the number of working hours increased but the ongoing pressure has not abated. There is no longer a slower time of year such as the summer where managers can breathe. This period is instead used to complete all of the projects that could not be completed during busier times. Work has shifted into periods such as the summer to compensate for times that it is just not possible to get everything done. As a result, there are no shorter hours anymore to make up for the longer hours required form time to time.

Corporate Hierarchy

by Charles Plant | Feb 8, 2012 | Management

Research from the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that U.S. corporate hierarchies have become flatter over the past two decades. Not only have CEOs been increasing the number of their direct reports but the number of middle managers has been declining.

“The number of managers in a company who report directly to the CEO has increased from an average of four in 1986 to an average of seven today. Rajan and Wulf concentrate on divisional managers — the lowest management rank with profit center responsibility and the position most consistently defined in the survey — and find that the number of division heads who report directly to the CEO has increased by 300 percent. The number of levels in the management hierarchy between division heads and CEOS has declined by 25 percent.” (National Bureau of Economic Research)

This flattening of the organization and increase in the number of direct reports has also added to the workload of the typical manager. Globalization and telecommuting has made it possible for these direct reports to be anywhere. Now a people manager not only has to cope with having more direct reports but he or she has a much more difficult job managing those people when they are removed form daily physical contact. The same problem holds true for other managers such as project and product managers.