Many Americans overworked, study finds

Younger workers more often able to balance jobs, personal lives

updated 4:25 p.m. ET March 15, 2005

NEW YORK - One in three American workers are chronically overworked, with job-related stress varying significantly by age, employment situation, and demands at home, according to a new survey.

The survey by the Families and Work Institute largely echoes one done by the group in 2001 which also found that a third of employees are highly overworked. But that static result obscures changes in the workplace, where some workers are more stressed even as others — particularly younger workers — are finding ways to balance the demands.

"In some sense, things are getting worse. People are working longer hours and their jobs are becoming more demanding," said Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute, a non-profit research group. "On the other hand, employers have become more flexible and that tends to lessen being overworked, and also, people's priorities have changed."

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More than half of the 1,003 workers surveyed said they are often handling too many tasks at the same time, or are frequently interrupted during the workday or both.

Employees at companies that had gone through layoffs were more likely to be overworked — 42 percent compared to the 27 percent of those at companies where payrolls remained steady. More than a third of workers said they are not taking their full allotment of vacation time.

About 37 percent of Baby Boomers, those between 40 and 59 years old, report being chronically overworked. But just 28 percent of Generation Y workers and 29 percent of Generation X workers fall into that category. Generation Yers are ages 18 to 25, while Generation X workers are 26 to 39 years old.

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The numbers reflects the fact that, unlike many boomers, younger workers often divide their focus between jobs and life outside work, Galinsky said.

Employees with teenagers do appear under more pressure, with 40 percent reporting high stress levels.

Workers with children are, generally, no more likely to be severely overworked than those without. But employees with teenagers do appear under more pressure, with 40 percent reporting high stress levels.

In addition, 37 percent of workers who care of their own parents or older relatives are chronically overworked, compared to 28 percent of those without such responsibilities.

Job-related stress also varied by income and job responsibility, with larger numbers of managers and people earning more than $50,000 a year overworked.

At companies who give employees flexibility in balancing home and job responsibilities, just 26 percent report being chronically overworked. But at companies without such flexibility, 56 percent are overworked.

The survey, done by telephone in October and November, has a margin of error of +/- 2.2 percent.