Find that job: Lesson 68. Extreme workers
A recent global survey by the Centre of Work-Life Policy, a New York based group, found that 45% of executives were 'extreme' workers, putting in more than 60 hours per week and meeting ever more demanding deadlines form several time zones. All experts agree - technology and globalisation have produced a worldwide epidemic of 'workaholism'.
Some 65 % of men and 35 % of women interviewed for the survey said that their work stopped them from having a strong relationship with their children. At the end of the 12-hour day almost half of all respondents said that they were too tired to say anything to their partners. But it's a bad situation for employers as well as employees. In the long term people burn out and their productivity drops. As a result companies lose gifted experienced people and put off other talented individuals who do not want to sacrifice their lives to work.
But extreme workers themselves are part of the problem - three quarters of the respondents said they LOVED their jobs. So, they have nobody to blame but themselves, do they? In America self-help groups have sprung up to deal with workaholism, but people are too busy to attend. In New York, a city fuelled by work, it hasn't really taken off. The Wall Street bankers, who put in 13-hour days don't come. The advertising executives whose marriages have been sacrificed to the addiction don't attend either. Are they at work, or in denial?
a Słownik:
extreme worker - pracownik ekstremalny
global survey - sondaż globalny
to put in more than 60 hours per week - pracować ponad 60 godzin tygodniowo
demanding - tu: naglący, pilny
to meet deadlines - dotrzymywać terminów (deadline - termin ostateczny)
time zone - strefa czasowa
workaholism - pracoholizm
strong relationship - silna więź
employer - pracodawca
employee - pracownik
to burn out - wypalić się, spalić
to drop - opadać, spadać
gifted - zdolny, utalentowany
experienced - doświadczony
to put off - tu: odstraszać, odstręczać, zrażać
to sacrifice - poświęcać
to blame - winić, obwiniać
self-help group - grupa samopomocy/wzajemnej pomocy
to spring up - pojawiać się, wyrastać
to attend - być obecnym, uczęszczać, uczestniczyć, chodzić (np. na zajęcia)
to fuel - napędzać
to take off - wystartować, tu: cieszyć się powodzeniem
advertising executive - dyrektor biura reklamy
marriage - małżeństwo
addiction - uzależnienie, nałóg
to be in denial - być w stanie zaprzeczenia
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