ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Sunday, April 20, 1997                 TAG: 9704180020
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: 2    EDITION: METRO 
COLUMN: WORKPLACE
SOURCE: Charlotte W. Craig Knight-Ridder Newspapers

`THE FIVE-DAY, 40-HOUR WORKWEEK IS GONE'

One reason people are working more is companies have laid off, spreading the same amount of work over fewer people.

As each workweek draws to an end, employees all over the country can be heard to sigh, ``Thank goodness it's the ... uh ... never mind.''

A survey by Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Steelcase Inc. shows that many office workers plug away through weekends and often put in more than 40 hours a week to cope with workloads.

The semiannual Steelcase Workplace Index says 73 percent of Americans who work in an office of 100 people or more work at least occasionally on the weekend - at home or in the office. Of those weekend workers, 60 percent said they do so once a month or more.

Although some weekend workers take compensatory time off later, 53 percent of the employees surveyed said they routinely work more than 40 hours a week.

About a third of the respondents - 32 percent - said they take work home at least one night a week.

``The five-day, 40-hour workweek is gone,'' said George Bell, manager of the Steelcase corporate marketing team that commissioned the survey and collects work-pattern research.

Steelcase's 19,000 employees worldwide were not covered in the survey, ``But I would be surprised if our numbers were significantly different,'' Bell said. ``If I'm any example, there's no question.''

The employees surveyed cited a variety of reasons for long hours:

Companies expect that kind of effort, said 38 percent.

The employees enjoy their work, said 37 percent.

Companies have laid off, spreading the same amount of work over fewer people, said 25 percent.

Computers, faxes and cellular phones allow more work to be done outside the office, said 18 percent.

It's one way to impress the boss, said 5 percent.

Sixty percent of respondents said they put up with it; 21 percent said they love it; 12 percent hate it.

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