Recession sees men working overtime, women getting fired
By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 23 June 2009, 01:10 IST   |    2 Comments
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Recession sees men working overtime, women getting fired
Bangalore: Under the pressure of work, men these days do overtime work up to 40 hours per week. On the other hand, women work fewer hours, which puts them at the risk of demotions or job loss, says a study. According to the findings published in the journal Gender and Society, the increased competition at the workplace united with the modern business practices leads to the growing level of overtime work that may not be productive for the work culture. "This clearly does not ease the situation for women and men who want to combine career and family-life. Moreover, a growing body of literature shows that working long hours does not automatically lead to greater productivity and effectiveness, and thus not necessarily contributes to employers' needs but potentially harms the well-being of employees," concluded a lead author Patricia van Echtelt and colleagues. Looking at the working habits of 1,114 male and female Dutch employees, an extensive survey says that 69 percent of men worked overtime as compared to 42 percent of women. Women who work overtime do so at a rate that is about one-third lower than that of their male colleagues, which, according to the researchers, is "usually explained by the continuing trend for women to be more involved in unpaid family work." The researchers predicted that families with more kids and at-home responsibilities would become "more constrained in their opportunities to indulge the 'choice' to work overtime."

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