Free-market economist and Nobel laureate Milton Friedman’s oft-quoted book title, “There’s No Such Thing As A Free Lunch,” reminds us to be wary of things appearing to come at no cost. 

The same might be said of the notion of “free” labor. Employers who believe they are benefiting from greater productivity when employees habitually put in long hours and skip vacations, studies say, are most likely hurting their businesses.

“In today’s knowledge-driven economy, the best measure of productivity is no longer how much time people invest,” says Tony Schwartz, CEO of The Energy Project and author of the book, “The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working.” Rather, it’s how much energy they bring to whatever hours they work — and the value of the work they produce as a consequence.”

The Energy Project and Harvard Business Review collaborated on a 56-question survey administered online to some 20,000 employees at all levels working in organizations of various sizes in more than 25 industries. The resulting “Quality of Life at Work” assessment underpins Schwartz’s mission to “reinvent the workplace.”

Schwartz’s research, along with several recent articles in the business press, call into question whether working for some of the “Best Companies to Work For” is, in fact, all that desirable. The reason: a culture of intensity that Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, in his essay about the tech industry, says is ruining the personal lives of employees and compromising work product. But long working hours, even at the Best Places to Work For, are not limited to tech companies. In a recent Gallup Poll, 4 in 10 Americans said they work more than 50 hours every week; and 2 in 10, more than 60 hours. It’s all too common to hear employees across a range of industries, discussing that they are overwhelmed, exhausted, and burnt out. 

While some of the Best Companies to Work For boast impressive employee perks such as gourmet lunches and state-of-the art gym facilities, what makes a great place to work, Schwartz’s research indicates, is something more fundamental: a culture focused on the whole person that enables people to bring the best of themselves to the job. 

“The simplest measure of a great place to work is how it makes employees feel to work there day in and day out,” Schwartz says. “That requires meeting the four core needs of their employees: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. Is there any question that if people feel healthier, happier, more focused, and more purposeful at work, they will perform better?”

Less makes more

For the last decade, many in business have assumed that grueling hours and a work ethic that erodes personal life is the price you pay for growth and innovation. According to Fortune, in 2014 Americans left 429 million vacation days on the table. For many companies, workweeks of 55 hours or more are the rule, not the exception for exempt employees. Research that attempts to quantify the relationship between hours worked and productivity, however, proves the opposite to be true. Too much time at work saps the energy required to be effective and creative. A study by John Pencavel of Stanford University found that employee output drops significantly after a 50-hour workweek and drops like a stone after 55 hours. Humans are not computers. We need time away from work to rejuvenate. To emphasize that point, Schwartz cites the work of sociologist and sleep researcher Nathaniel Kleitman that demonstrates how the human body “moves in 90-minute ultradian cycles throughout the day, during which we move from higher to lower alertness.”

The solution: lead by example

The most important thing a company can do to change behavior is to set an example through leadership. You can advocate for people to leave work on time and have dinner with their families, but if managers stay late every evening sending emails to staff and perhaps calling them at home with questions, people may feel insecure about leaving work on time. If supervisors work weekends, employees may feel obligated to also work, or at least take time away from their families, to respond to emails. If leadership eschews vacation time, then some employees will feel obligated to do the same. 

In short, leaders must demonstrate that success is better achieved with a reasonable work/life balance. At HR Works, several managers choose not to have their emails synced to their phones. They find it more productive to look at emails when they are focused on work, not just anytime day or night. 

It’s not fair to blame the trend of overwork completely on employers. Employees need to acquire the discipline to focus on priorities and not be distracted by social media and the Internet at work. As anyone with a smartphone knows, technology can be addictive with the effect of increasing work hours by distracting one from 

tasks at hand and blurring the lines between home and the workplace. In a recent Pew Survey, 35 percent of adults say the Internet, email, and cellphones increased time spent working. For office workers, the number rises to 47 percent.

Striking a balance 

Long hours can stem from direct reports having to juggle day-to-day responsibilities and multiple strategic initiatives simultaneously. Increased productivity is achieved when leaders invest the time to carefully prioritize key initiatives and avoid assigning direct reports more than one or two of these initiatives at a time, on top of existing job responsibilities. 

Updated time-management training that incorporates ideas for handling the distractions and demands of the digital age can help everyone gain a fresh perspective. For example, focus suffers when there is a continuous stream of emails popping up on computer screens throughout the day. Encourage workers to set times when they check and respond to emails and voice messages. 

Suggest to your employees that they also set limits on the amount of time spent working on a particular task. Remember the adage “work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” Finally, encourage staff not to send emails on weekends or after hours, unless it’s an emergency. No one needs to be connected 24/7.

If you’re managing an accounting firm during tax time, an employee-benefits business during open enrollment, or a retail business during the Christmas holiday, chances are you and your employees will have to work long hours. However, leaders must be wary of allowing long hours to become habitual all year long.         

Candace C. Walters is founder and president of HR Works, Inc. (www.hrworks-inc.com), a human-resources outsourcing and consulting-services firm based near Rochester that also has a DeWitt office. 

While Oct. 3 came and went without any particular fanfare, it did mark the start of a new era in residential mortgage lending. That was the effective date for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) new combined Truth in Lending – Real Estate Settlement Procedures Integrated Disclosure (a/k/a “TRID”). For all residential mortgage-loan applications taken on or after Oct. 3, the lenders are obligated to utilize the “TRID” disclosure in connection with closing. The familiar Truth in Lending (T-I-L)Disclosure form and HUD-1 Uniform Settlement Statement — mainstays in the residential-mortgage closing world for over 30 years — will be replaced with the TRID.

Given the length of time between submitting a mortgage application and actually getting to your mortgage closing (6-8 weeks), I am not surprised there has not been any real chaos and confusion yet regarding the utilization of the new TRID disclosure. But as we proceed through November, I expect there will be some angst in the residential-mortgage industry as it works to implement the new disclosure.

The two major concerns with getting a handle on the new TRID disclosure appear to be:

1. The document format is entirely different than the T-I-L disclosure and the HUD-1 Uniform Settlement Statement. Rather than two separate documents, each a few pages long, the TRID disclosure combines the two documents into one document that is five pages long. The signature requirements for the TRID are also unlike any previously used for the HUD-1 Settlement Statement or Truth in Lending Disclosure. So, mortgage lenders, mortgage closers, buyers, and sellers are all going to need to retrain their brains in order to process the TRID disclosure form.

2. Under the new regulations, the TRID disclosure needs to be prepared in final form and presented to the buyer/borrower three days prior to closing. This is a major game changer to a mortgage industry that has become accustomed to generating final closing figures, in fire-drill fashion, hours or minutes prior to closing. The never-ending requests to schedule a closing for tomorrow won’t be happening under the new rule.

If you are a potential homebuyer or interested in refinancing your existing mortgage loan, be prepared for an experience unlike any you have had before. The CFPB’s new disclosure requirements are going to affect the scheduling of closings in a substantial way. It will be important to be flexible as you work your way through the closing process.

So, if you thought the residential mortgage-loan closing process has been frustrating, brace yourself for at least a temporary escalation in that frustration.  

Edward (Ted) J. Spencer, III is a partner with the Syracuse–based law firm of Mackenzie Hughes LLP. His primary area of expertise is real estate, which includes residential, commercial, land use, and zoning. This viewpoint article is drawn from the firm’s Plain Talk blog. Contact Spencer at tspencer@mackenziehughes.com

If you have a heart problem would you to to a foot doctor?

That was my thought recently after the latest yuck report on the economy. Last quarter, it grew at half the speed needed to employ all the people who want to work. 

Here is what led to the foot doctor thought.

Yes, the economy is incredibly complicated. But it is also simple. To understand it, imagine a town, called “Yourtown.” It has a big bank and a big manufacturing company. And several big-box retail stores. 

These employ half the people in town. They create no net new jobs. About the time the bank adds staff, the manufacturer cuts jobs.

Yourtown also has a bunch of small businesses — restaurants and stores, consultants and engineering shops, small manufacturers, accountants and tech-geek upstarts, etc. Oh, and a small community bank. 

These businesses employ half the people in town. They normally add a lot of jobs. Some of these enterprises die. But more new ones start up than die. So, these small businesses usually generate growth.

Now, let us inflict new burdens and costs upon all these businesses. In the form of Obamacare, higher taxes, and the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory bill, which does a kneecap job on small banks. Oh, throw in a raft of punitive regulations from EPA and other agencies on top of that.

How do you suppose the businesses of Yourtown react to these new burdens? Basically, the big guys shrug. And, the small guys get stuffed. Our economy is no more complicated than that.

All these burdens have been heaped upon American businesses. Big companies have adapted. They don’t like the new costs and red tape. But their lobbyists worked closely with politicians to write the new rules. And, they have huge staffs to handle this stuff. 

Small companies have suffered. The new costs are too much for them, and the new regulations too onerous.

Thousands of small banks have disappeared. Yes, thousands. Only three new banks have been chartered since Dodd-Frank was unleashed. That’s right, three. Small banks used to lend to small businesses, with more understanding and sympathy than big banks possess. Dodd-Frank has smothered them. The people who wrote it should be in jail.

Bottom line is we have fewer jobs than we should have. Fewer jobs than small businesses used to create. Less investment and expansion by small business. More small businesses dying than being born — for several years now. An ominous sign. 

How could our politicians and bureaucrats be so stupid to do this to our new-jobs machine? The answer is full of complications. The answer is also simple.

Suppose we gather all of Congress and its staff — the folks who write these laws. And all the White House crew — the people who propose the grand ideas that end up in laws. And all the top bureaucrats — the people who create the red tape and write and enforce the regulations.

Tell them, “All of you who have owned a business, raise your hand. All of you who have worked as adults in small business, raise your hand. All of you who prepare your own tax returns, raise your hand. Now, anyone who does NOT have a hand in the air, please clap.”

The applause would be thunderous. The guys who create and inflict these burdens on our jobs machine don’t know squat about that machine. Or about its working parts. From the president on down, they are ignorant about the small businesses of this country. And their ignorance shows.

When they try to fix the problems in the economy, they are like foot doctors working on a heart problem. It is an appropriate analogy, because small enterprises are the very heart of our economy. 

To paraphrase Ronald Reagan: Government is the problem, not the solution. 

From Tom…as in Morgan.          

Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home near Oneonta, in addition to his radio shows. Contact him at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com