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The Effects of Too Much Work

“Too much work, too much vacation, too much of any one thing is unsound”

(Annenberg). Too much work is a problem that has not been easily recognized for a long time

and working too much can lead to many problems. Also, it’s a problem because so many

Americans are overworked and overstressed and if majority of the U.S. is like this then there will

be an economic downfall. So, how are workers and their families physically and psychologically

impacted by too much work? That can be answered by looking at the perspectives of a worker

and their family and also the employer.

Workers are working overtime in extreme amounts. According to Tiffany Hsu, “Outside

of the office, 80% of Americans still continue to work…” also, “On average, they put in an extra

hour per day – stacking up to about an additional day of work each week.” (2012). Also, in the

cancer study conducted by the British Journal of Cancer, the authors discuss how too much work

can physically affect someone's body. In the study, 79 people who worked 35 to 40 hours got

Colorectal cancer, 49 people worked from 41 to 48 hours got Lung cancer, 10 people got Breast

Cancer for working 49 to 54 hours a week, and 58 people got Prostate cancer for working 55

hours or more (Alfredsson, Lars, et al. 21). In addition, in Derek Thompson’s ​A World Without

Work ​the author discusses the psychological effects that work can have on a person. Thompson

discusses how when Youngstown, Ohio’s steel mills shut down there was a “psychological and

cultural breakdown” which lead to “Depression, spousal abuse, and suicide” which caused “the

caseload of the area’s mental-health center to triple within a decade” (Thompson, 6). Although,

this is not the only effects that too much work has on a worker.
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The American workforce is being overworked and overstressed and it is affecting the

workers’ health and mind. The first issue that comes from too much work is the health of the

person. Just like said earlier, there has a been a correlation between working hours and people

getting cancer. The cancer study was conducted in six different countries at different times. Each

experiment took a couple thousand participants, put each participant in one of five groups based

on how long the individual worked and then recorded how many of each group got cancer. After

a follow up of roughly eleven years there was a total of 4,371 participants with cancer. Also,

working 55 hours or more per week was associated with a 1.12 to 2.29 percent increase in female

breast cancer risk (Alfredsson, Lars, et al. 19). In addition, workers’ minds are taking a toll

psychologically. “A survey among 2355 workers in Japan revealed that working overtime (more

than 50 h/week) has a significant association with sleep deprivation (<5 h/day) and high

psychological stress.” (Alikhani, Zahra, et al. 2). Also, in a similar study conducted in the United

States, working overtime was correlated with higher job stress (Alikhani, Zahra, et al. 2). Studies

have proven that workers are physically and psychologically affected by too much work. Yet,

workers are not the only people affected. In fact, the employers are impacted as well.

Employers are affected by too much work because the workers are affected. In fact, in a

recent study conducted by the Families and Work Institute (FWI) “feeling overworked can affect

employees' health and job performance--including making frequent mistakes.” (“Too much work

impacts safety”). Also, making mistakes on the job impacts safety, and in blue-collar jobs

making mistakes can cause serious injury (“Too much work impacts safety”). This is a problem

for employers because injury to the workers results in workers compensation claims and other

liabilities. In addition, the study conducted by the FWI over a three month time period showed
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that more than half of employees felt overwhelmed by the amount of work that they had. Also,

“The more overworked employees feel, the more likely they are to feel angry toward their

employers, resent coworkers and seek other employment.” (“Too much work impacts safety”).

This results in employers losing money, workers, and can cause the company or business to have

bad publicity. In addition to the workers being impacted by too much work, the families of those

employees are affected too.

Families of workers are being psychologically and physically impacted as well. The

families of the employees feeling overwhelmed by too much work are primarily being physically

impacted. In the article ​A World Without Work​, Derek Thompson states that the psychological

and cultural breakdown of Youngstown, Ohio caused spousal abuse to become much more

prevalent (6). Also, family members who work too much can suffer from “frayed relationships,

divorces, and alienation from their family.” (Clark, Dorie. 1). This can also cause money

problems due to workers getting a divorce. Families are also psychologically affected because a

family member works too much. In fact, troubled relationships can cause depression

(Avery-Stoss, Jill). Jill Avery-Stoss says that “Everyday stressors, such as conflict with a loved

one, can trigger periods of depression…”. Also, the PLOS ONE study “found that negative

relationships in general are unhealthy contributors to stress and depression.” (Avery-Stoss, Jill).

So, not only are workers being impacted by too much work, the families of the workers are also

being affected. Although, working more than expected allows for money to come in due to

overtime laws.

The United States Department of Labor has just recently updated the overtime rules

which allows more people to benefit from overtime hours. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
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extends overtime protections to 4.2 million additional workers who are not currently eligible for

overtime do to federal law. Also, the Department of Labor will increase the salary threshold

every three years.The salary threshold is expected to rise to more than $51,000 with its first

update on January 1, 2020 (“FLSA Overtime Rule Resources”). Due to the new updated rules on

the FLSA workers will be more influenced to work overtime in order to gain money especially if

money is tight for the individual. But, the new overtime rules are still not perfect.

But, who really benefits from working overtime? According to Sidney Samuel, “No one

benefits if there is no demand for the product and the pay doesn't cover travel expenses”. Also,

“Employees seldom benefit when working overtime takes away from family time” (Samuel,

Sidney W). Therefore, if the product that the company/business is selling is not in demand then

the overtime practically cancels out and the worker gains nothing but loses time that could’ve

been spent with his/her family. In addition, nurses are also required to have mandatory overtime

hours. What this means is that nurses don’t work the typical 9:00 am to 5:00 pm workday, they

take twelve hour shifts. Therefore, nurses who work overtime might be working more than

twelve hours in a twenty-four hour time period (Bae, Sung-Heui). So, overtime laws might not

cover more than twelve hours of work in a day.

In conclusion, too much work is a problem for everyone and it needs to change.

So, how are workers and their families physically and psychologically impacted due to too much

work? There are solutions to this problem. The first possible solution is for employers to give

more vacation days and require workers to take those vacation days. Also, there needs to be an

act passed that sets a firm restriction on how many hours and overtime hours that can be worked
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in a given week. Too much work is a problem that should be acted on to help improve the U.S.

as a whole.
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Work Cited

Alfredsson, Lars, et al. “Long working hours and cancer risk:a multi-cohort study.” ​British

Journal of Cancer, ​February 2016, pp. 19-24.

Alikhani, Zahra, et al. “Life Psychosocial Stresses and Coronary Artery Disease.” ​International

Journal of Preventive Medicine, ​September 2016.

Annenberg, Walter. “Walter Annenberg Quotes.” ​BrainyQuote, ​April 2017.

Avery-Stoss, Jill. “How Relationships Can Cause Depression.” ​LiveStrong.com, ​February 2014.

Bae, Sung-Heui. "Presence of nurse mandatory overtime regulations and nurse and patient

outcomes." ​Nursing Economics​, vol. 31, no. 2, March-April 2013.

Clark, Dorie. “Why Can’t We Stop Working?” ​Harvard Business Review Digital Articles,

January 2014, pp. 1-3.

“FLSA Overtime Rule Resources.” ​Society for Human Resource Management, ​April 2017.

Hsu, Tiffany. “Average Americans work a day of overtime each week.” ​Los Angeles Times, J​ uly

2012.

Samuel, Sidney W. "Working overtime: who really benefits?" ​Monthly Labor Review,​ vol. 138,

no. 10, October 2015.

Thompson, Derek. “A World Without Work.” ​The Atlantic,​ August 2015, pp. 6-16.

“Too much work impacts safety.” ​Professional Safety, v​ ol. 46, no. 11, November 2001.