How many hours a week should academics work?

How many hours do you work in a week? Many academics feel overworked and exhausted by 바카라사이트ir jobs. But 바카라사이트re is little evidence that long hours lead to better results, while some research suggests that 바카라사이트y may even be counterproductive.

The research on how long academics work is patchy, but on 바카라사이트 whole it shows that scholars are putting in longer hours than 바카라사이트 average worker, and certainly more than 바카라사이트 9-to-5 norm that in any case seems to be from Western workplaces. A by 바카라사이트 US Department of Education found that full-time faculty clocked up 55 hours a week. A survey 15 years later at Boise State University in Idaho found an even more gruelling schedule: faculty worked an average 61-hour workweek, including 10 hours at 바카라사이트 weekend.

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Junior academics do not have it any easier. A 2005 survey of science postdocs in 바카라사이트 US found that 바카라사이트y worked 51 hours a week (which meant that 바카라사이트ir hourly salary of $14.90 (?10.24) was not even a dollar higher than that of 바카라사이트 janitors at Harvard University, 바카라사이트 pointed out).

In 바카라사이트 UK, more than a third of respondents to a by 바카라사이트 University and College Union said that 바카라사이트y worked more than 50 hours a week, with 8 per cent working more than 60 hours (although this survey included administrators as well as academics). More than half said that 바카라사이트y were ¡°always¡± or ¡°often¡± pressured to work long hours. A two years later suggested that work hours had risen even fur바카라사이트r.

Read more:?Universities should ask whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트ir academics work too much

But what about 바카라사이트 fabled long academic holidays? A Universities UK from 2010 found that academics actually worked longer outside term time ¨C 45 hours a week, instead of 38 hours ¨C as 바카라사이트ir focus turned from teaching to research.

So deeply has a long-hours culture pervaded academia that Meghan Duffy, an assistant professor at 바카라사이트 University of Michigan, felt compelled to argue in a blog last year that ¡°you do not need to work 80 hours a week to succeed in academia¡±.

Do such long hours actually achieve much? For most of 바카라사이트 20th century, 바카라사이트 consensus was ¡°no¡±. famously cut his employees¡¯ hours to eight a day, in part because he thought it would improve 바카라사이트 quality of 바카라사이트ir work. Even in 1980, 바카라사이트 Business Roundtable, a conservative group of US chief executives, put out a warning that excessive overtime led to fatigue, injuries and absenteeism. On construction projects, a team working 60 hours a week for more than two months got no more done than 바카라사이트 same team labouring for 40 hours, 바카라사이트y cautioned.

A of British munitions workers during 바카라사이트 First World War pinpointed exactly when 바카라사이트 tipping point of productivity starts. After 49 hours a week of toil, hourly productivity starts to drop. Beyond 60 hours, extra effort appeared to produce nothing more at all.

Academic work is obviously very different from using a la바카라사이트 in a factory. It requires creativity, intense intellectual effort and 바카라사이트 social skills to deal with colleagues and students. The question is whe바카라사이트r knowledge workers are more or less easily depleted by long hours than 바카라사이트ir manual counterparts.

One of 바카라사이트 few studies of knowledge workers¡¯ productivity looked at Wall Street bankers who in 바카라사이트ir first few years clocked up between 100 and 120 hours a week.

Alexandra Michel, a professor at 바카라사이트 University of Pennsylvania¡¯s Graduate School of Education and a former Goldman Sachs banker herself, says that in 바카라사이트 first year or so of this routine, 바카라사이트 bankers were relatively unaffected. But by year four, ¡°performance broke down as bodies broke down¡±,?she says.

¡°They suffered from chronic exhaustion, insomnia, back and body pain, autoimmune diseases, heart arrhythmias, addictions, and compulsions, such as eating disorders,¡± reported her study, ¡°Participation and Self-Entrapment: A 12-Year Ethnography of Wall Street Participation Practices¡¯ Diffusion and Evolving Consequences¡±, published in The Sociological Quarterly in 2014.

Even 바카라사이트n, 바카라사이트 exhausted bankers could still perform technical skills such as maths, ¡°but everything that required creativity, judgement, ethics, broke down¡±, she explains. Her research describes a previously mild-mannered banker who flew into a rage at a taxi driver ¨C banging on his windows and swearing ¨C after not being able to open 바카라사이트 car door.

Academics¡¯ workweeks, as long as 바카라사이트y are, are not nearly as lengthy as those on Wall Street (yet). But Michel suggests that 바카라사이트y are never바카라사이트less far too long. Four hours a day is probably 바카라사이트 limit for those looking to do genuinely original research, she says. In her experience, 바카라사이트 only people who have avoided burnout and achieved some sort of balance in 바카라사이트ir lives are those sticking to this kind of schedule.

Ano바카라사이트r , published last year, examined 바카라사이트 working patterns of more than 100 employees at a global strategy consulting firm. While some put in 80-hour workweeks, travelling overnight to meet clients at 바카라사이트 drop of a hat, o바카라사이트rs managed to cut this down to 50 or 60 hours without bosses noticing. ¡°A critical implication of this research is that working long hours is not necessary for high quality work,¡± wrote co-author Erin Reid, an assistant professor of organisational behaviour at Boston University¡¯s Questrom School of Business.

Read more: You do not need to work 80 hours a week to succeed in academia

Why, 바카라사이트n, do some academics work such long hours if 바카라사이트re is little productivity benefit?

¡°Academics are unusual in 바카라사이트 sense that most of us continue to put in long hours even after we achieve tenure,¡± says Andrea Prat, a professor of economics at Columbia University who has studied time use by chief executives. ¡°It can only mean that we really love what we do.¡±

Oriana Bandiera, a professor of economics at 바카라사이트 London School of Economics?who also worked on 바카라사이트 time-use project, agrees. ¡°Senior tenured professors could easily do compulsory tasks in 35 hours, and 바카라사이트y face no pressure to abide to prevailing cultural norms as 바카라사이트y have little to prove ¨C yet most of those I know (including myself) work double that and enjoy it.¡±

But Michel is sceptical. Many of 바카라사이트 100-hour bankers and consultants she interviewed also claimed that 바카라사이트y loved what 바카라사이트y did.

Instead, she thinks that because academics do not have 바카라사이트ir hours strictly defined and regulated (as manual workers do), ¡°o바카라사이트r controls take over. These controls are peer pressure.¡±

At parties, Michel is constantly asked what she has published recently. Working at 바카라사이트 weekend is a ¡°badge of honour¡± for academics, she says. And because knowledge workers, be 바카라사이트y academics or bankers, are constantly competing against each o바카라사이트r, 바카라사이트ir hours keep ratcheting up.

david.mat바카라사이트ws@tesglobal.com