#Michaels worktime drivers#

This represents a simplified view of peoples’ motivation to work, as there can be many other reasons to work beyond earning an income (e.g., see Conklin, 2011 study on calling). Regarding the measurement of overemployment, many previous studies focus solely on economic aspects, viewing overemployment as a trade-off problem between money and leisure (e.g., Böheim and Taylor, 2003). However, the understanding of overemployment is still in its infancy and this has an impact on study results. Managing overemployment from the individual to the organizational level requires solid knowledge about the phenomenon. These results highlight the importance of studying overemployment, rather than long work hours, for the individual and for organizations. Job dissatisfaction negatively correlates to performance and retention ( Judge et al., 2001). Prior research predominantly finds that overemployment is detrimental to individuals’ well-being: it is negatively related to job satisfaction ( Wooden et al., 2009 Wunder and Heineck, 2013 Angrave and Charlwood, 2015), life satisfaction ( Wooden et al., 2009) and psychological well-being ( Angrave and Charlwood, 2015). Therefore, we regard the subjective experience of overemployment as more important than the objective hours worked. While literature finds no direct effect of long work hours per se on either physical or mental well-being ( Ganster et al., 2016), this is not true for overemployment ( Wooden et al., 2009 Angrave and Charlwood, 2015).

In Europe, around 30% of all employees would prefer to work fewer hours (albeit with strong variations between countries Eurofound, 2017, data based on 35 European countries). Overemployment is a widespread phenomenon. Overemployment is usually defined as a state in which an employee, working full-time or part-time, would prefer to work less (work fewer hours) than is currently the case (e.g., Golden and Gebreselassie, 2007 Wooden et al., 2009 Golden, 2014), while accepting reduced earnings in consequence ( van Echtelt et al., 2006). The phenomenon of overemployment must be distinguished from long working hours per se. In addition, companies may encourage employees to work extra hours: they are an indicator of employee performance ( Kmec et al., 2014) and lead to sought-after lower relative labor costs ( Boulin et al., 2006). For employees, there may be acceptable reasons for working long days, such as expected positive career outcomes, e.g., in terms of salary ( Spurk and Abele, 2011) or intrinsic rewards ( Brett and Stroh, 2003). Long working hours and blurred boundaries between work life and private life are common among professionals ( Eurofound, 2017 Ross et al., 2017). I don’t want to spend my lifetime only at work.” (7) 1 This study provides a multidimensional framework of overemployment that provides a basis for understanding employees’ perceptions and behavior regarding overemployment and for deriving appropriate actions to reduce overemployment. Regarding the psychosocial consequences of overemployment, our findings show large variations, whereby work time sovereignty seems to play a moderating role.

#Michaels worktime drivers#

A self-reinforcing circle of personal and situational drivers seems to explain the persistence of overemployment. We find that overemployment is a four-dimensional experience consisting of work time length, work time competition (with time outside work), work time distribution on tasks, and work density. We investigate 26 overemployed employees using a Grounded Theory approach. The purpose of this article is to define overemployment from employees’ point of view, to explain why people work more than they prefer, and to understand the individual consequences it has. However, the concept of overemployment is poorly understood. Many employees would prefer to reduce work time and can be defined as overemployed. Chair of Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour, Department of Social Sciences, Economics, and Business Administration, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany.