Reader Poll

All in a Day’s Work?

by Joseph A. Kalasky, P.E.

An ABC web-news exposé on 11 March 2003 reminded us of the predicament in which many of the IEEE's U.S. members find themselves. Thousands of engineers, along with a host of other professionals, are caught in a vicious work cycle.

Employers are forcing engineers to work widely expanded and unpaid hours that are depriving them of family, health and wealth. One viable escape to the grueling pace is resignation, relegating the professional to poverty in an already physically and mentally worn body, amid a family life that may already be shaky. Essentially, until termination, resignation, illness or death (no joke), the worker is confined to extensive work hours six or seven day per week.

Fortunately, I am among the slight majority of U.S. IEEE members not mired in the quandary of overwork. Some of us are lucky enough to enjoy at least a few precious hours and limited resources to address this issue on behalf of all members. Those of us with decent positions and livable hours have an ethical duty to assist colleagues who perform similar work, but in horrendous conditions. IEEE-USA could be a natural voice for change.

In the widest perspective, the situation is not necessarily the policy or will of the employers; rather, it has more to do with the geo-political structure. We are in a highly competitive global market, where profit margins are narrow. Market conditions are forcing many employers to downsize. For the first time, many corporations are experiencing global competition. Foreign equipment and software, produced at the cost of menial labor, are also hitting the American market. Hence, the blame does not rest squarely on the shoulders of corporations. Instead, many of our colleagues' plight has grown out of the response of a corporate America baffled by a lack of alternatives available to sustain corporate vitality among today’s competition.

Abusive and uncompensated overtime will cause burnout, if not irreversible health and mental conditions. I see three areas for change:

• Engineers must accept the reality that professional employees endure some reasonable amount of unpaid overtime as a way of life.

• In the interest of ethics, employers must realize that the current situation is destructive to professionals’ health. Alternatives such as flex time, maximum work hour limits, and adding clerical staff to perform professionals’ non-technical tasks may help the cause.

• Legislation is in order. Through advocacy, engineers can support legislation that could stave off unfair foreign competition utilizing inhumane plants and substandard pay scales to produce and deliver products to the United States. American engineers in Middle Eastern countries have a five-year limit, as “no foreigners are to hold jobs that can be filled from within.” Our government must level the playing field. Equality must be established on both sides of the ocean.

IEEE-USA has done much to enhance engineers’ professional status. It should continue in this tradition of success by refocusing a portion of its limited resources to address this escalating issue.

What Do You Think? Please send your thoughts to todaysengineer@ieee.org. Be sure to include your name, home city and state, and IEEE membership level.

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Joseph A. Kalasky is a former member of the IEEE Board of Directors. He is currently chair of the IEEE Regional Activities Board’s Industry Relations Committee; a member of IEEE-USA’s Energy Policy Committee, and the Pittsburgh Section PACE chair.