Posted on 07/19/2007 9:37:05 PM PDT by gpapa
Unwind. Unplug. Relax. Not words you hear often in Washington, where overwork is not only accepted but embraced. Just take the Metro home on a Friday night at, say, 9 p.m. and notice the fair share of people carrying briefcases, loosening ties and incessantly checking their BlackBerrys.
Washington -- or at least political Washington -- is a 24/7 work culture. But does that mean people here are overworked?
Depends, said Lois Backon, vice president of the New York-based Families and Work Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that studies the changing workplace.
"Overwork," she explained, "is when people feel stressed and overwhelmed by what they are doing." Based on its own research, the institute found that one in three U.S. employees is overworked. "As a result, they fail to devote time to other important things in their lives, end up making mistakes and get angry at colleagues and their superiors."
The Politico's admittedly anecdotal confirmation of those findings suggests that political Washington meets that standard -- and likely exceeds it. Look at entry-level congressional staff salaries, for starters: in the mid-to-high $20,000s in most offices. And no one in those jobs ever expects to go home at 5 p.m.
"Washington is built on ideals, not just deals. People come to work for causes they believe in, and the overwork epidemic is often self-inflicted instead of pushed down from a boss," said Timothy Ferriss, author of The New York Times best-seller "The 4-Hour Workweek." (True to form, he was on vacation when The Politico first tried contacting him.)
"If you are in a place where you are working toward something you believe in, have autonomy and are learning, most people can put in more hours in the day and not feel overworked," said Backon, observing that many Washington jobs are alluring in precisely that way.
On Capitol Hill -- where entry-level staff work perfectly illustrates long hours and low pay -- the term "overwork" elicited passionate responses from Hill staffers.
Ryan Loskarn, Senate Republican Conference spokesman, agreed with Ferriss, saying most people on the Hill are not there solely for the money. "They're here because they like what they do and they're engaged in what goes on in politics," he said. But idealism goes only so far. "As you move up on the ladder and receive a salary increase, it certainly makes life on the Hill easier."
Dave Helfert, spokesman for Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), has worked in D.C. since 1994. "Every office operates differently, but I think it's just a fact of life," he said. "Most people just seem to put (the hours) in and accept that that's just part of the job."
Asked to compare the Hill's work ethic with that in Austin, Texas, where he spent most of his life, Helfert said, "I think people tend to work a little harder here than in Austin. People here are a little more intense, motivated and focused."
A young Republican legislative assistant who did not want to give his name said he believes that most staffers are overworked and underpaid, considering their responsibilities. "Working on the Hill can be quite demanding, and the expectations are high. I think that in any other industry we would be better compensated, but I love my job and don't mind it at all."
"Also," he added, "not having a family to support makes it a lot easier not to be paid more."
As for vacation time -- well, there's recess. But even that isn't sacrosanct to some Hill bosses. "I don't let anybody take vacation while we're in session," said John Michael Gonzales, chief of staff for Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.). "Recess for the Washington staff is to catch up on work you couldn't get done while in session and to take vacation."
Gonzales' attitude isn't partisan. Loskarn said -- with a touch of pride -- that he has used only about four official vacation days this year. The calendar breaks help. "During recess, most staffers have more flexible schedules, although the lack of recess this year has obviously impacted that flexibility," Loskarn said, referring to the Democrats' goal to reduce recess time.
Even while on vacation, however, Hill staffers stay plugged into work via their handhelds, devices that can be addictive. One Republican media consultant mentioned that he could track the lunch and dinner breaks of an especially prolific BlackBerrying young staffer by the half-hour lulls in daily e-mail traffic that begins flowing at 6 a.m. and finally shuts down around midnight.
Helfert, in Abercrombie's office, confessed to similar habits. "I carry one, and it can be an umbilical cord. It always amuses me to get on an elevator and, as soon as the door closes, everyone reaches for their BlackBerry. It's certainly a membership badge for most employees" on the Hill, he said.
Ferriss believes that workers, even in Washington, would become less obsessive about being at work if employers recognized them for doing work from any location.
"What you do -- defining measurable outcomes and prioritizing -- is much more important than how you do (it)," Ferriss said. "Americans in general get very good at doing unimportant things well, like checking e-mail and reorganizing contacts, when it doesn't actually accomplish anything. But I feel that those in Washington elevate it to an art form. The good news is that it's reversible."
Seriously? OK, Ferriss admitted that political Washington likely won't adopt his four-hour workweek. But, he predicted, "it will inevitably move" from work evaluations based on someone being at work to "performance-based evaluation, just like the top players in Silicon Valley, … like Netflix and Google."
Said Ferriss: "There is a huge difference between being busy and being productive. Those who embrace the latter, without regard to location or hours, will be the ones who win."
We'll believe it when we see it.
Stop passing laws against Americans. I don’t care if you have nothing to do.
Don’t like the work, don’t do it. Go do something else.
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