Although time management has always been a big issue for engineers and engineering managers, they're now working longer and harder. After many months of layoffs and hiring freezes, companies are doing the same amount of work, or more, with fewer employees. How does this affect engineers and their companies, and how well are they picking up the slack?
"They aren't," says Patricia Hutchings of Unique Perspectives, a time management specialist whose clients include several industry companies. "Or, they do for a while and then they burn out." Eventually, Hutchings explains, they end up in stress management courses, which they claim they don't have time for, and the class always starts late.
Demands placed on workers have resulted in increased workloads, longer workdays, and rarely a break from the routine of work. After months of layoffs, many organizations are attempting to do the same amount of work as last year, says CareerBuilder.com, an online recruitment service. However, the volume of work is taxing the capacities of an already compressed staff.
Dawn Haden, a senior career advisor at CareerBuilder.com, says that "Because of the impending threat of a layoff, actual or implied, workers are getting the job done and making themselves appear indispensable. This has resulted in longer hours and heavier workloads."
In a survey of 1200 engineers conducted by CareerBuilder in December 2002, 10% said they were working 51 to 60 hours a week compared with only 3% who said they were working the same number of hours in July 2002. In another survey, taken this March, 56% responded that they had a heavier workload. But in July 2002, only 35% said their workload had increased.
CareerBuilder's survey also found that the "lunch hour" has become a misnomer. Lunchtime is getting shorter, and fewer people are leaving the premises to eat.
MUM'S THE WORD
Companies and their engineers are reluctant to discuss these issues, especially for attribution. But the problem was put in perspective by a mid-level technical staff member of a large OEM who said, "There's an attitude [in the industry] now and it's not very healthy. As for myself, I can only do so much. I'm going to work very hard for eight hours. That's all I can do."
Jeff Davidson of BreathingSpace.com, another time-management expert, says he meets regularly with high-tech companies. According to Davidson, "It's a long-time phenomenon. It's not a blip on the horizon. People are being asked to do more with less—less resources, less budget, less staff. You continue to be stretched until you reach another level. Then, when you sort of get comfortable there, you get hit with more to do."
How long can this continue? While every industry trade group is aware of the problem, no one seems to have come up with any solutions, and it's reflected in the job market.
A study released in mid-March by the American Electronics Association (AEA), which represents more than 3000 member companies, shows a decline of 560,000 high-tech jobs in the U.S. over the two-year period from January 2001 to December 2002 (see the table). The study is based on monthly employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Another trade group, the American Engineering Association, consisting of about 1000 members, has been tracking manpower and related issues for years, but on a less formal basis. Group vice president Richard F. Tax says that little has changed since he wrote a position paper a few years ago called "Overtime Is No Free Lunch," in which he decried the spread of what he called "free overtime."
"It's not the few occasional hours of flexible overtime that are a primary concern," he wrote. "It is the abuses of managers that drive their engineers 50 to 60 hours of work for 40 hours of pay." Despite a number of attempts by the association to create a committee to "take action," Tax says that funds have not been available to follow up on this issue.