I hope this isn’t a trend – Extreme Jobs Mean Long Hours, Little Sleep — A Lot of Money. The example in the article is a trial lawyer working to make partner (reminds me of John Grisham’s book The Firm). How about this (my emphasis):
A new study in the upcoming issue of the Harvard Business Review estimates that 1.7 million Americans now hold extreme jobs. The study defined “extreme” as any job that requires more than 60 work hours per week and fits various parameters regarding work flow, travel, responsibilities away from the office and outside commitments.
A further description of Mr Shontz (the trial lawyer):
Shontz is almost never home for dinner with his wife and three children, and even breakfast at home is a rare occurrence.
If it works for him, more power to him. I just can’t imagine any line of work being more valuable than time with your family.
According to the Harvard study, 52 percent of the nation’s top income earners those in the top 6 percent of earners and often making six-figure salaries work more than 70 hours a week. And 48 percent say they are working 16 hours a week more than they did just five years ago.
Ok, maybe it is a trend and a bad one at that. The article concludes with my initial thought to this work/life imbalance (my emphasis):
The potential for burnout on these jobs is also extreme. The Harvard study revealed the dark side of working such punishing hours. High percentages of the high performers in the study said the crazy schedule took a huge toll on their family lives and even their health particularly because of a lack of sleep.
I have no empirical data to support this statement, but I suspect this extreme work schedule will not carry through to the younger generations. They seem to have a distinct drive to find a work/life balance that differs greatly from the “high performers” in this study.