A client sent me to a commentary on CEOs who work hundred-hour weeks and asked me what I thought. I said that I was far more familiar with the workplace view than the parenting angle, although I pretty much agreed with it.

For years, various studies have shown that Americans work more hours and get less vacation time (around ten days, and even that small amount isn’t completely used) than any other comparable industrial nation-and for years I’ve been counseling against it.

A CEO, who’s run both public companies and startups, once told me that he accepted the prevalence of 50-hour weeks, knew that they occasionally stretched to 60 and that a crisis, such as a glitch in a product launch, a recall, etc., could require a superhuman effort crunched out in an 80 hour week.

But, he stressed, anytime 60-plus hours became the accepted norm he considered it poor management.

Smart guy—ran several very successful companies with high productivity and retention.

Of course, I have a very irreverent opinion on those 100-hour weeks.

Productivity is at its highest when you’re fresh and well rested and goes down from there; by the time you’ve worked 50 hours productivity is pretty much dead and after the 60-hour mark your brain starts to shut down.

That means that the amount of work cranked out in the next 40 hours is not only at a no-productivity level, but also of questionable value, so you’ll have to review everything done during that period when you’re fresh—essentially doing it twice.

Plus, if you don’t provide your body with high-grade fuel, not just caffeine and sugar, you’ll shut down sooner and have even lower productivity with more errors/bad decisions.

Once again, we’re back to your MAP, your decisions, and your choice.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 28th, 2007 at 1:11 pm and is filed under Business info, Culture, Leadership, Retention. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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