Work stress: Harbinger of poor health threatens American work force

'Europeans have made a tradeoff between quality of life and hours worked ... we Americans have chosen to trade all our increases in productivity for more stuff. And to pay for it, we need to work even more.'

— John De Graaf, a proponent of the 'Take Back Your Time' movement

It's improbable workers would get much sympathy from their bosses if they sauntered over and said, "Hey, I'm stressed out. I'm working too hard."

Suits have heard that one before, ad infinitum, ad nauseam, etc.

But, on the ground, workers are all too aware of the detrimental effects of stress, which manifest themselves far more deeply than even they themselves realize.

John De Graaf, a proponent of lowering American work stress by "taking time back," believes the negative effects of overwork-related stress range from developing health problems to marital break-ups.

He spearheads an initiative called Take Back Your Time, which challenges the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine that he and his proponents say threatens our health, our families and relationships, our communities and our environment.

His point is that American workers now work more hours than any other workers in the world, on average clocking in about 350 hours more hours each year than Europeans, for example.

"That's nine weeks of labor," De Graaf said from Seattle, where he lobbies for companies to cut work hours, and designates Oct. 24 each year as the day for workers to make their feelings known.

"Europeans have made a tradeoff between quality of life and hours worked," said De Graaf. "We Americans have chosen to trade all our increases in productivity for more stuff. And to pay for it, we need to work even more."

In France, for example, national law guarantees workers 11 public holidays, a minimum of five weeks paid vacation, and a 35-hour work week, he said.

Americans do celebrate 10 public holidays. Still, many companies don't honor all national holidays, and U.S. firms are the stingiest in the developed world when it comes to vacations.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, De Graaf said, an American in his or her first year on the job gets 8.1 days of paid vacation on average. (The average doesn't rise above 10 days until year three.)

In contrast to the citizens of virtually every other industrial nation, Americans are actually working longer hours today than we were 30 years ago, despite a near doubling of productivity, he said.

"Medieval peasants worked less than we do," De Graaf said.

Referring to "time famine," De Graaf said having more free time would bring enormous benefits throughout American society.

"At a minimum, we could expect improvements in health. The Centers for Disease Control warns that overwork is the greatest new threat to American health," he said. "Time pressure means that fewer Americans take the time to exercise, and far too many rely on unhealthy, high-calorie, chemical-laden, overly processed fast foods.

Photo by QUENTIN ROUX, Marco Eagle

Paul Sellers aligns a router in his Marco Island Town Center Mall store workshop. He says long hours sometimes stress him out, but that he has ways of alleviating it.

"If it improves our health, as there is plenty of evidence to indicate it would, working less could also cut down on expensive medical costs, among the fastest rising segments of the average American's budget."

De Graaf also says shorter work time would have many other environmental benefits.

"For example, people who have more time are more likely to recycle," he said. "They eat less fast and over-packaged food, sending less waste to the landfills. They grow more of their own food and eat more organic foods, reducing the demand for pesticides and other chemicals.

"They are more likely to repair items rather than throw them away. In general, they are less likely to demand use-it-once-and-throw-it-away convenience products."

At the same time, De Graaf emphasizes that his mission is not anti-work.

"Useful and creative work is essential to happiness," he said, "but American life has gotten way out of balance. Producing and consuming more have become the single-minded obsession of the American economy, while other values — strong families and communities, good health and a clean environment, active citizenship and social justice, time for nature and the soul — are increasingly neglected."

Among the Take Back Your Time goals are guaranteeing paid leave for all parents for the birth or adoption of a child, and guaranteeing at least one week of paid sick leave for all workers.

"Many Americans work while sick, lowering productivity and endangering other workers," De Graaf said.

Other aims are to guarantee at least three weeks of paid annual vacation leave for all workers, placing a limit on the amount of compulsory overtime work that an employer can impose, making Election Day a holiday, and making it easier for Americans to choose part-time work.

A couple of local Marco Island workers, one employed and one self-employed, generally admit to work stress.

But, entrenched in the accepted work norm, they simply try to melt stress — either with hobbies and exercise, or by making a point of enjoying work itself.

Paul Sellers is self-employed, and runs Art Sellers at the Town Center Mall.

He formerly ran a computer business with a partner in Chicago, but decided on going solo when he moved to Marco Island in 1999.

He initially chose a gift shop with additional handmade curios and novelties, but now concentrates on signs as well as the novelties such as faux etch stickers, tile photo creations, boat lettering and graphics.

He puts in fairly long hours, and says his stress comes mainly from not automatically getting a paycheck at the end of the week.

"You have to make sure everything happens," he said.

He said while clients in general are not unreasonable, they sometimes don't know exactly how much effort a project takes.

Sellers said he loosens up by getting out on a racquetball court, playing a game he describes as playing pool at speed.

"You have to figure out the angles, and you have to use a little brain power to do that," he said.

Other relaxation measures he opts for are getting out and about with his wife, and also fishing and snorkeling.

Brian Bell manages Marco Movies, the island's unique dine-in theater, and spends his nine-to 15-hour workdays with assorted tasks such as banking proceeds, cleaning bathrooms, checking film threading (or threading them up himself), and ordering food supplies, posters and movie trailer packages.

On top of that he manages a staff of about 25, many of whom are students, accounting for a large turnover at the complex.

"Sure, I have stress," said Bell. "You have to worry about workers showing up, but all that stuff goes with being a manager. I don't want the company to get a bad name because of the employees."

He said by and large the public is easygoing, but some people can be difficult when they complain about the movie itself, or occasionally about the theater not accepting credit cards.

"We don't accept cards because we have so many refunds," Bell said. "We don't oversell the theater, but sometimes if people can't sit together, we refund their money so they can come back."

Bell said the work camaraderie is actually therapeutic, with plenty of good-natured bantering from employees as they go about their chores.

Off-duty, Bell likes to golf stress out of his system and spend time with his wife, Cheryl, and their pet dog.

Overall, though, he accepts the pressures of the job.

"Nick (Campo, the movies' co-owner) puts his trust in me, otherwise I wouldn't be here," Bell said.