Harder Than Ever to Work 9 to 5
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A8 | NEWS *SUNDAY READ | THEPROVINCE.COM SUNDAY, JANUARY 12, 2014 Brian Bebek puts in 55 to 60 hours a week at his job with a Burnaby engineering firm and is accompanied by his dog, Skye, during his long work days. ‘He gets mad if I don’t take him with me and he lets me know it,’ says Bebek. ARLEN REDEKOP/PNG Harder than ever to work 9 to 5 rian Bebek is lucky he year-old Skye appears to believe employees to answer emails and Wary of layoffs Paul Luke loves his job because he’ll Bebek can’t handle the long days texts at any time of day. likely spend much more unless he comes along. Welcome to 2014, a year in which SUNDAY and downsizing, FEATURES time doing it this year. “He gets mad if I don’t take him many of us, from employees to busi- The materials inspector with me and he lets me know it,” ness owners, will work longer and workers are Bemployed by a Burnaby engineering Bebek says. harder than ever. firm worked an average of 55 to 60 Bebek sometimes feels as if he’s When 2013 ended, almost 70 per hours a week in 2013. “the only person who spent their cent of North Americans had not putting in He expects these hours to increase professional life running a mara- taken all of their vacation time, says in 2014 as activity ramps up at the thon with no sign of the finish line Right Management, which advises more hours pluke@ theprovince.com large Vancouver building projects in sight.” companies around the world on where he monitors structural and But he and Skye won’t be the only workforce issues. twitter.com/ and skipping provmoney material quality. B.C. residents to work like dogs this A separate survey by Expedia.ca As he drives his pickup from site to year. Workplace experts predict found that 52 per cent of B.C. res- vacations to site, Bebek is accompanied by Skye, Canadians will spend more time on idents have cancelled vacations his miniature Australian Shepherd. the job as workloads mount, peo- because of work, making them the protect their jobs Bebek, 39, is nominally the one ple remain nervous about their jobs most likely group of Canadians to who gets paid for the job. But two- and employers increasingly expect do so. SUNDAY, JANUARY 12, 2014 THEPROVINCE.COM | *SUNDAY READ | NEWS | A9 Right Management spokeswoman Margaret-Ann Cole predicts that the big chunk of North Americans who aban- Small-business owners don vacation time in 2014 will remain the same. During the 2008 recession, when com- working more hours, too panies were laying off large numbers of people, fearful employees felt they had to Growing competition is driving small-business owners like be tied to their desks, Cole says. Craig Yee to work longer hours. “It became a habit in which fewer Yee, who employs three people at Vancouver-based OHS and fewer people take vacations. Social Global Risk Solutions, says he tries to outpace the competition media makes it really hard for those who by quickly responding to any client who has health and safety do to turn off and cleanly go on vacation,” concerns. Cole says. “The competition in our (health and safety) line of work is “People are working longer. They may higher than ever before,” Yee says. “More often than not, my not be physically in the office but they are staff and I work 10 to 12 hours a day, five to seven days a week. taking work home. If you did a poll and Which, of course, means less vacation time for us and our asked people, they would answer ‘yes,’ families.” they are working longer.” On the other hand, Yee tries to give his staff enough flexibility Overall family work hours have been in their schedules to counter the long hours. on the rise, according to StatsCan. The Laura Jones, an executive vice-president with the Canadian combined weekly work hours of Canadi- Federation of Independent Business, says competition and an couples jumped to 64.8 in 2008 from red tape are tied for the No. 1 reason that Canadian business 57.6 in 1976 — the equivalent of almost owners are working long hours. another full day of work per week, the Part of the competition comes from former employees who federal agency says. start their own businesses after being laid off, Jones says. Still, overworked Canadians with good Sixty-two per cent of business owners have coped with the jobs may wish to count their blessings. ‘My staff and I work 10 to 12 hours a day, five to seven days a week, which, 2008 recession and its aftermath by increasing their hours, Carleton University business profes- of course, means less vacation time for us and our families,’ says Craig Yee, CFIB research shows. Twenty per cent have reported working sor Linda Duxbury says Canada’s work- owner of a Vancouver risk-assessment company. WaynE LEIDEnfrost/ PNG more than 60 hours a week. force is splintering into three groups: Most small business owners knowledge workers (professionals and don’t mind the hours, Jones says. managers) who work long hours; lower- A 2011 survey by CFIB showed 63 end service-sector workers who cobble per cent of business owners enjoy together several part-time jobs; and job- their work. less people displaced by automation or In a recent survey outsourcing, unable to find any work for commissioned by Regus which they’re qualified. Canada, Angus Reid found that The upper and lower ends of the pay small business owners and spectrum are both working longer, Dux- entrepreneurs are the most likely bury says. At the low end, workers stitch Canadians to take emails, make different jobs together to make ends calls and attend to work while on meet. holiday. “My data says one in five Canadians has The hours can become too more than one job,” she says. “That tends much for some business people. to be people with lower pay who need Work and wellness expert every available hour to survive.” Beverly Beuermann-King says People at the upper end of the pay many people start businesses out scale are not only working longer, they’re of a desire to control their own working harder as employers’ demands schedules. become more complex, Duxbury says. When they find themselves Employers want workers to be avail- working more hours than they able throughout the day and night. Work did at their jobs, they may lose increasingly leaks into family time, forc- heart. ing parents to “outsource” family respon- “A lot of small-business owners sibilities. They pay for child care, buy end up going back to working meals instead of cook them and send for someone else because kids to camp rather than take vacations they burned themselves out. as a family, she says. They didn’t pace themselves,” Work is intensifying as employees are Deen Hannem works 80 hours a week at her furniture business in Langley but doesn’t mind the Beuermann-King says. expected to constantly upgrade their long days. ‘If you set yourself a goal, that’s what you have to do,’ says Hannem. WaynE LEIDEnfrost/ PNG Deen Hannem, who owns skills, whether or not the company trains Langley-based Revamp Furniture them, Duxbury says. And they are being Garage, says she typically works overloaded with difficult tasks. Beuermann-King says the consequences about 80 hours a week finding, designing and refurbishing “We’re being expected to do too many of stress caused by overwork range from “We see higher furniture. things at the same time,” she says. headaches to heart attacks. rates of burnout She expects those hours to increase this year. But Hannem, “I hear all the time from people that tell “We see higher rates of burnout 50, says she has more than enough energy and passion to their employers, ‘You asked me to do A, B and depression and mental illness,” and depression and handle a greater workload. and C and all are due tomorrow. Which Ontario-based Beuermann-King says. “There are so many businesses that do work extra hard,” she do you want me to do first?’ “It can also be something as simple as mental illness ... says. “If you set yourself a goal, that’s what you have to do.” “The answer is: ‘I want you to do all of people being more moody, more edgy, people being more them.’” not using the social niceties at work. Employers’ inability to set priorities That can lead to more conflict and that, moody, more edgy.” and boundaries for employees carries a in turn, has impacts on productivity and cost for organizations and individuals, absenteeism.” ť BEVERLY beuermann-king Duxbury and other experts warn. WORK-LIFE BALANCE EXPErt Work-life balance expert Beverly Continued on Page A10 A10 | NEWS *SUNDAY READ | THEPROVINCE.COM SUNDAY, JANUARY 12, 2014 From Page A9 You don’t have time to find a new job.” B.C. jobless rate steady Christian Codrington, a senior manager Are those of us lucky to be working doomed with the B.C. Human Resources Manage- to become more like Robert? Will working ment Association, suggests that many peo- hours get longer and longer, reaching deep- while national rate spikes ple have become obsessed with work — and er into what’s left of our personal lives? obsessed with appearing to work hard by Duxbury believes that things will get better. The unemployment rate BMO Capital Markets chief “I think if you step back and emailing late in the day or in the wee hours Government, rather than bringing in tempo- in B.C.