The 40-hour work week may be facing the same fate as the home phone — extinction.
A new survey shows that half of all managers are working more than 40 hours per week, reports the Wall Street Journal, and nearly 40% have seen their average hours worked increase over the past five years.
From the Journal:
The survey, which fielded opinions from 9,699 full-time employees in eight countries, raises some questions about the sustainability of the current pace of work, said Karyn Twaronite, who heads up diversity and inclusion efforts for EY and commissioned the study.
Employees report that their responsibilities at work have increased while wages have largely stayed flat. And while technologies like company-provided smartphones and remote-work software have bought workers some flexibility, they also keep “people tied to work seven days a week,” Ms. Twaronite noted.
Fifty-eight percent of managers in the U.S. report working more than 40 hours a week, surpassed only by managers in Mexico, where 61% say they’re working those hours. By comparison, just over a third of U.K. managers and under a fifth of managers in China report working beyond 40 hours.
Rising cost of living combined with flat wages have led to the increasing hours, according to the report.
For more about France’s far shorter work week, watch this Fortune video:
