American Workers Feel Burned Out, Fear Being Laid Off

A five-year study of the American work force has come up with findings that most working people already know too well: Many feel burned out by the end of the day, don’t have enough time with their families and fear they will be laid off.

The study released Thursday by the Families and Work Institute was commissioned by 15 companies and foundations that said they needed to find out worker feelings so they could begin to address their problems.

“We think we can use it to help us identify the needs of our employees, especially in the areas of benefits and job satisfaction,” said Judd Everhart, a spokesman for Xerox Corp., one of the sponsors.

The study “validates what we have known in our hearts for a long time,” said Burke Stinson, a spokesman for American Telephone & Telegraph Co.

It shows that when workers are given more freedom to take care of family concerns, productivity does not suffer, he said. To the contrary, “employees feel like they are being treated fairly and want to give back at least what they have received,” Stinson said.

The study, based on hourlong interviews with a national sample of 3,381 workers, paints a portrait of a hard worker who feels burned out from balancing work and family life, yet cares intensely about performing well on the job.

That employee cares more about the quality of the work environment than money or professional advancement. Workers want control over their work and their schedules and given that freedom are more productive and satisfied.

Employees want to change the balance between work and personal life, shifting time and energy to themselves and their families, the study found.

Young workers, especially those with children, would rather make sacrifices in their education, careers and jobs than in their personal and family lives.

And despite the larger numbers of women in the labor force, women’s responsibilities within the home have not changed much, the study found. They still take the most responsibility for household duties and the children.

Overall, employees with children believe they are not coping as well as workers without children. Sixty-six percent say they don’t spend enough time with their children. And of all the workers surveyed, 42% feel “used up” by the end of the day.

On the job, there’s uncertainty. Twenty percent of those surveyed fear losing their jobs, and another 42% have survived downsizing in their companies.