So it's far more profitable to hire a smaller number of people for longer hours than to extend those hours over more workers who would expect paid benefits. Charlie N., owner of a chemical plant in the Northeast, employs more than 100 workers. You're probably overworked, but your little paid-time off might be your own fault, experts say. Those forecasts couldn't have been more wrong. The amount of time Americans spend at work has increased relentlessly over the last two or three decades.
Workers say they put in long hours.
Ironically, pressure to work long hours may be worse among salaried employees. Almost 40 percent of all U.S. employees fall into this category and, according to Schor's findings, they invariably work far longer days than workers paid by the hour. Shor adds that while upper echelon workers are usually rewarded nicely for their troubles, the same is not true for lower echelon workers, who are the majority. Melody H., a junior sales executive at a media corporation, knows this paradox all too well. Last year was intense.