The successful management of projects is an enormous responsibility for project managers. The day is filled with meetings and administrative work that must be done rapidly to ensure that the project maintains the potential to be successful. Further, project managers are sometimes also wearing "other hats" that will drag their attention focus into various directions.
Long hours at the office doesn't help either. This is especially true of project manager's who are managing offshore teams. As an example, if a project manager resides in New York City and has offshore teams to manage in India and Arizona this will likely cause the PM to work extra hours. This is assuming that those offshore teams are successful in self-managing and the PM doesn't have to step in to micromanage.
With so much overwork, the project manager may be tempted to just quit. This is especially true if the PM expresses their overworked situation and it falls on deaf ears. With so much overwork, the PM may have limited time to take care of their health and family. There is documented research done by the National Library of Medicine that high stress contributes to high triglyceride levels which, in turn, contributes to heart disease.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) published a report citing sufficient evidence for higher risks of heart disease and stroke among people working long hours (greater than 55 hours/week) compared with people working a standard (35-40 hour) workweek.
The report indicated that overwork is the largest risk factor for occupational disease and that stress hormones lead to elevated levels of cholesterol and blood pressure.
Societies often glorify overwork. In the United States, I’ve heard expressions such as “no pain, no gain” or “work hard, play hard” in the context of office work. Also, there are productivity maniacs that glorify “sleep only 4 hours like a Marine” or “only losers wake up after 5 am.”
In my personal experience, I’ve never encountered office resources that stress a work-life balance. There is always mandatory training from Human Resources about corporate code of conduct or cybersecurity. Have you seen any mandatory HR training courses on work-life balance or how to manage stress & overwork? If so, please let me know.
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