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A recent study published in the Harvard Business Review states that “extreme” jobs are “a young man’s game”, suggesting that women are less tolerant of long working hours. The same assumption is also often made with respect to older workers and their intolerance to long work days preventing them from reaching certain job categories.



But are these presumptions reality? This article will try to give a first answer before UNI’s ICT forum next 26-28 September, which will be dedicated to diversity management in the ICT sector.



First of all, it is important to define “extreme” jobs. According to the study, a job is considered to be “extreme” when it takes 60 or more hours per week, is highly paid and entails at least five of the following characteristics:



Unpredictable flow of work



Fast-paced work under tight deadlines



Inordinate scope of responsibility that amounts to more than one job



Work-related events outside regular work hours



Availability to clients 24/7



Responsibility for profit and loss



Responsibility for mentoring and recruiting



Large amount of travel



Large number of direct reports



Physical presence at workplace at least ten hours a day





Apparently, “extreme” jobs have never been as prevalent as today, with 21% of the U.S. high earners interviewed in the study working in these conditions. These jobs are present in every sector of the economy, from large manufacturing companies to finance, as well as in entertainment and media, in medicine and law and in accounting and consulting.



People declare themselves happy with their highly demanding jobs. 66% of extreme workers say they love their jobs and feel exalted by the challenges related to their positions. The surge of extreme jobs is explained by three major factors.



First, competition has become more intense. The immense wave of mergers, the flattening of hierarchies and the entrance of many women into the workplace greatly contributed to this phenomenon. In addition, the fear of losing jobs due to outsourcing deals is very present in workers’ minds. But it should not be forgotten that the enormous amount of money earned by CEOs these days is obviously a powerful incentive to work more than the rivals. This could rapidly turn into a vicious circle because numbers show that the higher the position, the bigger the workload.



Second, technological developments seem to have liberated and shackled professionals at the same time. 72% of the Americans who answered the survey declared technology helps them do their jobs well but 59% said it lengthens their working day, while 64% think it invades their family life. It also seems that secretaries have been replaced by do-it-yourself technology, which translates into overload work for professionals. In fact, 71% of extreme workers have no full-time administrative assistant, while 37% of them do not even have a shared assistant.



Finally, cultural shifts are also responsible for the spread of extreme jobs. Extreme efforts are well appreciated in our society. Extreme sports, where the more demanding the daring, the greater the public’s admiration of the athlete, are becoming very popular. Intense jobs, like extreme sports, are seen as desirable and not exploitative at all.



Moreover, the workplace is becoming the centre of many people’s social life, at the expense of the home. With the rise of knowledge-based work, people increasingly like their jobs and their colleagues’ company. The cost of remaining longer hours at their workplace is thus reduced.



But extreme jobs also imply cost increases. It may be that companies can take advantage of extreme workers in the short term. But in the long run, burn-outs, promotion refusals and health costs might prove expensive for firms. 69% of the study’s respondents believe they would be healthier if they worked less and 65% would refuse a promotion if it meant more workload.



Bad relationships with spouse and children, an unsatisfied sex life and incapacity to properly maintain their homes are other problems encountered by extreme workers.



Women seem to be more aware of the “opportunity costs” of this kind of position. They appear considerably more affected than their male counterparts by the lack of a good relationship with their children. This may explain in part why less than one fifth of extreme workers in the U.S. are women. Another reason might be that far less women (12%) enjoy the support of an at-home spouse or partner than men (25%). Several companies are reacting to this situation by adopting more flexible policies, including extended maternity leave, to attract highly talented women.



Are IT workers a prime target?



Extreme jobs are rewarding but can result in major stress for employees. Let’s see if IT people in general suffer stress more than other workers.



A new report issued by the Richard Ivey School of Business comes to the conclusion that firms should invest in assistance programmes specifically designed to help IT employees. The report also recommends offering more peer support for IT workers who are facing a high level of stress.



Although the research cannot be considered statistically significant, it cannot be denied that constant technical skill updating is an important source of stress. According to Hsing-Yi (Phoebe) Tsai, a PhD student who is at the origin of the study, the technological learning curve can be competence-destroying. “Instead of building up their skills, they (IT workers) are trying to maintain them. That increases the amount of stress they have. And the amount of stress they have comes from outside the firm”, she said.



From 2000 to 2001, the employees’ turnover rate in the U.S. IT industry rose from 8% to 10.2%. Constant changes in technology are known to be one of the major causes contributing to high turnover, which costs a lot of money to companies. That’s why giving employees research time and physical resources that facilitate trial as well as the possibility to attend courses might turn out to be profitable investments.



Is IBM an example to follow?



Some might think that IBM has found the solution to keep workers’ stress under control with its vacation system. Big Blue allows its 355,000 U.S. workers to take three or more weeks of holidays per year and does not record who takes how much time and when. The firm does not allow employees to carry days off from one year to another. Indeed, IBMers of all levels make informal arrangements with their bosses. The only constraint is to respect the deadlines.



That looks perfect, but reality is very different. Peer pressure is enormous, according to IBM employees who declared that “they frequently check their (employees’) e-mail and voice messages while on vacation. Bosses sometimes ask subordinates to cancel days off to meet deadlines”.



Another problem is the fact that bosses rarely go on holidays. “If leadership never takes time off, people will be sceptical whether they can,” said Kim Stattner, a human resources consultant, quoted by the New York Times.



“It wasn’t seven days a week, but people ended up putting in longer hours because of all the flexibility, without really thinking about it. Although you had this wonderful freedom to take days when you want, you really couldn’t. IBM tends to be a group of workaholics,” said a former IBM employee who was never able to take all her allocated time off in 34 years of career at Big Blue.



40% of IBM workers have no dedicated offices and work at home, at a client’s site or at one of the company’s “e-mobility centres” around the globe. “I get an incredible amount of flexibility from the company, but it cuts two ways. Because people’s schedules and needs are so structured, you need flexibility at work”, declared Luis H. Rodriguez, director of market management in IBM’s software group.



Conclusions



We have seen that many women consider long working hours an important obstacle to high positions. On the other hand, firms are changing their policies because they realize this is the only way to have highly qualified women who also want to have a family life working for them. This means that enterprises are becoming aware of the importance of gender diversity within their workforce. Let’s hope that recruiters will soon realize that older workers can also bring particularly useful skills to the enterprises they work for.



Regarding the level of stress linked to extreme jobs, companies should also start thinking about new ways of organizing work and assignments. It is not only women who do not want to dedicate their whole life to working. The new generation of managers seems to be less disposed to spending all their time in the office. Numbers are eloquent: 19% of extreme jobholders in the 45 to 60 age group say they are likely to quit their jobs in the next two years. But when you look at the 25 to 34 age group the percentage rises to 36%.



When you ask extreme workers whether they want to go on working this way, the answer is clear: 80% of women and 58% of men declare they do not want to continue working at this pace for more than a year. This should alert some HR managers, shouldn’t it?