American engineers and managers are very concerned about striking a work-life balance-it ranks No. 2 on our list of career issues.

"Fifty-five to 60 hours a week and on call 24 hours/7 days is NOT conducive to a social life," a Michigan software engineer wrote.

No, it's not. But the tricky process of meeting the needs of both employer and family isn't impossible. Seven out of 10 U.S. respondents to our survey think they've achieved it.

"Mostly, it's good," said a North Carolinian of his balance between work and family time. "Between projects we can take advantage of lulls and work less. During projects, things can get too busy to breathe."

That comment typifies the way many engineers handle the workload: Go into high gear as a project nears its peak, then downshift when the pressure eases up.

Although 71 percent of American engineers think the balance is good, they said achieving it isn't easy.

A New York project engineer found his balance "only within the past three years. Prior to that it was work, work, work. Never again!! The stress was a killer."

"I feel it is a matter of priorities," said an Illinois principal engineer. "I work to provide a paycheck for my family and to provide a challenge for myself."

"Put God first, family second, business last," advised one systems engineer.

In some cases, engineers have rebelled.

"In the last crunch, when people were being let go for no reason, I decided that my employer had broken every agreement that we had. I've been taking it easy since then," said a respondent who works 40 to 44 hours a week.

"I will only work overtime for unexpected and significant problems," declared an Alabama engineer. "I do not work overtime for schedule or manpower shortages due to deliberate management policy."

Interestingly, both engineers had the option to reduce their workloads. Too often, the workaholics think they can't get up and leave their desks at 5 p.m. At some workplaces, they may be true.

Most readers seemed to be able to keep the hours in hand: They averaged 46 a week. Not bad for a professional.

The story changes in Japan and Asia. Our Nikkei Electronics Japan respondents work more than 50 hours a week; in fact, 16 percent of the Japanese engineers and managers report work weeks of 60 hours or more.

The engineers and managers responding to Nikkei Electronics' Asia survey averaged 49 hours a week. But they appear to feel better about their work-family balance than the Japanese do; 59 percent said they have a good balance, while only 46 percent of the Japanese felt that way.

U.S. companies regroup
American companies are devoting more attention to the issue of work-life balance, but only out of necessity-they're losing employees to burnout.

"The previous place of employment did not have a good balance between personal life and work," said an Ohio design engineer. "Too many work hours were expected. I decided to leave because of this reason. My present job has the proper balance and pays 75 percent more than the job I left."

In Silicon Valley, employers have adopted some innovative techniques such as sick-child care; a personal-services desk that will handle your dry cleaning and automobile service needs or get you a movie ticket; and work-at-home options.

"I need telecommuting to really have balance between a professional career and being a single parent of two teenagers," says an Arizona engineer.

The odds aren't good that she'll get that. About 15.8 percent of the respondents have the option to use telecommuting.

Yet last year, KPMG Peat Marwick did a study of 106 human-resources executives on telecommuting. It found that nearly one-fourth of their employers have regular telecommuters. Fifty-three percent say workers enjoyed "increased productivity and job satisfaction" and one-third reported "lower real estate costs and reduced employee turnover."

A subset of telecommuting is decentralization. Many Silicon Valley operations have set up design centers around the country, often in places where a cluster of designers already lived. Unable to persuade these much-sought-after engineers to move to the expensive and crowded Valley, employers rented out space in a central location nearby-in effect, moving the mountain to Muhammad. It's not working out of a home, as in telecommuting, but it is an example of corporate accommodation.

More likely to be offered by corporations is flex time. More than half the respondents' employers allow employees to manipulate their 40+-hour work weeks beyond the traditional 9 to 5, Monday to Friday routine.

A department head described his workplace's solution: "We have a scheduled nine-hour day Monday through Thursday, with alternate Fridays [off]." Working an eight-hour day every other Friday brings the average to "80 hours every two weeks for engineering." Many Silicon Valley workplaces will create three-day weekends using a variety of scheduling options.

Unfortunately, many also create six- and seven-day work weeks. Out of the 409 respondents answering the question, 102 work Saturdays and 30 also come in on Sunday. For 47 percent of our Asian engineers, Saturday is a work day, about double the number of Japanese who work Saturdays.

Apparently, working weekends is an option, not a requirement. Only 1.6 percent of the American engineering respondents toil for a company that makes it a requirement to come in on a Saturday and/or Sunday, About 250 American engineers clock time at least one to two nights a week, with another 108 slugging it out for three to five nights a week. Hard workers include VPs, technical directors, section heads and senior engineers.

In Japan, working nights is almost the rule, not the exception. Three-quarters of the Japanese engineers stay three to five nights a week. Only 13 percent of the Asian respondents do.

Return to 1998 Salary & Opinion Survey