The eight-hour workday: myth or reality?

The eight-hour work day. Is it myth or is it a reality? Many people are wondering this everyday as more and more jobs require workers on salary to extend their work hours into the night and on weekends. Almost 11 million people regularly work more than 60 hours per week, according to the Department of Labor. This is a trend that many Americans find discouraging.

Employees in creative industries find themselves working on projects well beyond normal hours, too. Design and production projects often receive hundreds of edits before they can move onto the next stage of development. Sometimes those corrections aren't sent out until the end of the day, and employees are expected to churn out revised products before work the next morning. In a survey conducted by the Families and Work Institute, American men put in an average of 49 work hours a week and women hovered around 42 hours per week in 2011. The extended work day has also taken a toll on families. Parents are consistently having less time to spend with their children at once, which can create tension in the household.

Remote work positions have developed across every industry in the past decade with the goal of allowing individuals the chance to work from home and tend to private responsibilities throughout the day. Being able to drive children to work or attend an after-school soccer game seemed ideal at first, but in actuality it has extended the workplace's, and in turn, an employee's workday.

However, some contradicting and interesting information was by a SocialCast infographic. According to their findings, people spend an hour and 14 minutes each work week on social networks, 34 minutes on games and another 27 minutes on personal email. Although that does not comprise all of the extended hours an employee is faced with each work week, it does shed some light on the fact that throughout a typical day, employees are not overly bogged down by projects.

It is highly probable that by limiting those minutes spent on personal enjoyment, employees can begin to reduce the amount of extended hours they spend at work. Remaining productive while in the office, or at home, can help to manage the work week and give a worker more time off the clock.

In many cases, when it comes to an eight-hour work day, the efficiency lies in the worker's hands. Sure, certain days will be more busy than others, but remaining on task in the office can enforce a better time management policy for any individual.