A new US study by Families and Work Institute, Overwork in America: When the Way We Work Becomes Too Much, reports that one in three American employees are chronically overworked, while 54 percent have felt overwhelmed at some time in the past month by how much work they had to complete. The study of more than 1,000 wage and salaried employees identifies for the first time why being overworked and feeling overwhelmed have become so pervasive in the American workplace.

“Ironically, the very same skills that are essential to survival and success in this fast-paced global economy, such as multi-tasking, have also become the triggers for feeling overworked,” reports Ellen Galinsky , president of Families and Work Institute and a lead author of the study. “Being interrupted frequently during work time and working during non-work times, such as while on vacation, are also contributing factors for feeling overworked.”

Employees’ priorities have an effect on their state of being overworked as well. Employees who are work-centric are more likely to be overworked than those who maintain a dual-centric lifestyle, giving equivalent priority to their lives on and off the job. Possibly contrary to expectation, employees with greater family responsibilities were no more likely to be overworked than those without these responsibilities, except for elder care.

Because there is a great deal of interest in vacations in relation to reducing work stress, the study explored this issue in depth. Researchers found that 79 percent of employees had access to paid vacations in 2004 and that more than one-third of employees (36 percent) had not and were not planning to take their full vacation. On average, American workers take 14.6 vacation days annually with more than one-third (37 percent) taking fewer than seven days. Only 14 percent of employees take vacations of two weeks or more. In addition, while employees report that it takes three days on average to begin to relax, the data shows that the longer employees take off at any one time, the more likely they are to return to work feeling more relaxed and energized. For example, among employees who take one to three days off (including weekends), 68 percent return feeling relaxed compared with 85 percent who take seven or more days (including weekends).

“Perhaps the most important finding from the study related to vacations is that the more one works during vacations, the more overworked one is. Although one might hypothesize that employees who work during vacations are doing themselves a favor in avoiding a pile-up of work when they return,“ says Terry Bond , Vice President of Families and Work Institute and an author of the study, “the opposite seems to be true. Sometimes being truly away from work helps employees return less overwhelmed and more able to engage energetically in work.”

In a culture where being overworked is seen as both a “red badge of courage” as well as a source of anxiety, being overworked should be taken seriously by employers. Employees who are more overworked are more likely to make mistakes at work, to be angry with their employers for expecting them to do so much and to resent coworkers who don’t work as hard as they do. In addition, nearly half of employees who feel overworked report that their health is poor. For example, only 8 percent of employees who are not overworked experience symptoms of clinical depression compared with 21 percent of those who are highly overworked.

Key Study Data

• One in three American employees are chronically overworked.
• 54 percent of American employees have felt overwhelmed at some time in the past month by how much work they had to complete.
• 29 percent of employees spend a lot of time doing work that they consider a waste of time. These employees are more likely to be overworked.
• 79 percent of employees had access to paid vacations in 2004.
• More than one-third of employees (36 percent) had not and were not planning to take their full vacation.
• On average, American workers take 14.6 vacation days annually.
• Most employees take short vacations, with 37 percent taking fewer than seven days.
• Only 14 percent of employees take vacations of two weeks or more.
• Among employees who take one to three days off (including weekends), 68 percent return feeling relaxed compared with 85 percent who take seven or more days (including weekends).
• Only 8 percent of employees who are not overworked experience symptoms of clinical depression compared with 21 percent of those who are highly overworked.