Why are we working late?

Karina frowns. The question of when was the last time she left work on time puzzled her. “Oh yes! she finally exclaims. It was on our wedding anniversary, two months ago. Left at the beginning of the ninth. 34-year-old Karina is the head of the direction in a successful Internet project. She rarely leaves the office before nine, much more likely to stay at work until midnight. This is not a requirement of the contract and not a recommendation from the authorities. It is a lifestyle that more and more men and women are leading today. Why?

How to work abroad

It is widely believed that Western corporate culture taught us to stay at work until late, with its glorified labor zeal and thirst for career success. Indeed, everyone can remember a couple of popular films where the hero or heroine sits in the office all night long, solving the most important task.

But psychologist and coach Pyotr Bochkarev categorically disagrees with this explanation. “If the production processes in the company are clearly built, then the delay of an employee in the office is a reason for bewilderment. My colleagues from Germany, for example, say that a delay at work not only raises questions from management, but can lead to a fine. Because it means that the employee is inefficiently using working time and company resources.

Pyotr Bochkarev is inclined to explain the night vigils at work with Russian specifics. “In Soviet times, “burning at work” was approved. The Labor Front, like the front of military operations, demanded heroes. The heroic attitude to work was fixed and preserved.

However, it is, of course, wrong to consider this feature as specifically Russian. France, say, it is inherent in the same degree. “It is important for the French to show that they work harder than the rest. Therefore, it is considered that a person is “underperforming” if he is not overwhelmed with work beyond measure,” says psychotherapist Eric Albert, director of the French Institute for Stress Management (IFAS), sarcastically. And he warns of the dangers of such an attitude: overload is fraught with burnout and depression.

Sad confirmation of these words were several suicides of Renault employees in 2006 and France Telecom in 2009. Then the government and trade unions had to intervene in the situation. Many enterprises have officially limited the time of employees’ access to production facilities, for example, by blocking electronic passes.

Reasons for delays at work

The most obvious reason for delays at work is business necessity. It can be an important project that needs to be completed by a certain deadline, a critical situation that threatens to fire an employee, or may call into question the existence of the company itself. Although there will always be a few “workaholics” who, in the opinion of the psychotherapist, are unable to stop before reaching the ideal … unattainable by definition.

Another objective reason can be considered the economic crisis, when many are afraid of losing their jobs. “At a time when the future is unclear, we all become vulnerable,” explains Eric Albert, “and involuntarily look for a space where we are calmer. Physically “occupying” our workplace, we, as it were, symbolically keep it for ourselves.”

The validity of this hypothesis is confirmed by 40-year-old Maria, an economist. “I found that just sitting at a desk in the office calms me down,” she admits. – Gives a sense of reliability, that everything will continue to be so. And I really value my work and want nothing to change.”

But there may be individual reasons. “If there is no pressure from the company, the requirements of a specific situation, an overestimated amount of work, then our incompetence may be an internal incentive to stay late at work,” says Petr Bochkarev. – Moreover, “incompetence” in this case is not a dirty word at all. It implies the lack of the necessary experience, knowledge, skills to complete the task. And in a sense, it is natural when new tasks appear that require time to learn.

Finally, some of us may get “secondary benefits” from vigils in the office. “It may be an attempt to do more, to show that same “heroism” at work,” explains Petr Bochkarev. “Or is it the result of communication difficulties – in which case we try to work when no one interferes.”

Why is it more comfortable for many people to work in the evening?

The latter consideration is especially relevant for today’s popular open space offices, where employees do not have personal space. In such offices, late evening is the only time when you can work without being distracted by calls, conversations and crackling computer keyboards of colleagues. Do not forget about the physiological differences.

“We are in an unequal position in relation to working rhythms,” says Eric Albert. “For some of us, the body secretes more of the stress hormone cortisol, and this allows us to engage in intellectual activity at later hours.” Interestingly, even switching to freelance work does not always change the situation.

“Before, I really liked to sit up at work,” says 36-year-old Sophia, a designer. – We were all single and unmarried and sat at work until night. Now I have children, I went to freelance, but still, I almost never sit down for important projects before eight in the evening.

However, Pyotr Bochkarev sees this as a manifestation of psychological characteristics. “For most of the clients I have worked with, their most productive work hours coincided with the time when they were most in demand and felt loved and cared for in their childhood,” he points out. — For example, in working with one of the clients, it turned out that from 15.00 to 17.00 he did homework, being a schoolboy. Nobody interfered with him, and he received real pleasure from homework. And today, these hours remain his most productive time.”

It is impossible to lose sight of the labor heroism (or careerism), mentioned above rather ironically. “We all have the right to be careerists! – categorically declares Eric Albert. – What’s wrong with that? And if someone condemns you for working too hard or demands an explanation from you, then why not directly refer to your ambitions?

Vicious circle

There is another reason for delays at work, the saddest one. “It happens that an employee does not have a personal life or there are too many problems in it. He just doesn’t have to rush home. In this case, he works hard, until late, gives all his passion to work in order to avoid discomfort outside of work, ”says Petr Bochkarev. And he warns: excessive psychological investment in only one area of ​​​​life threatens not only with burnout. If suddenly everything collapses at work, then there are no other areas in which we can feel wealthy.

Unfortunately, often in such situations it is difficult to understand what is the cause and what is the effect. Bad relationships push us to sit up at work. And delays at work spoil relationships with loved ones. Vicious circle? The most important thing to do to break it is to understand the meaning of these “overtime” hours, to realize how important they are and what they are “dedicated to,” our experts say. And if we realize that delays are objectively necessary, we need to take the next step – to talk to both the family and employers.

“You can, for example, make a plan, approve the dates of your busy schedule and discuss with loved ones the possible future benefits of the current difficult situation,” suggests Petr Bochkarev. After all, the choice of working hours, as well as the choice of work, we do more than once in a lifetime. And the work rhythm can change over the course of a career.