Working 10 or more hours a day, almost no days off, no regular meals and lack of sleep - that's the life for 70 percent of the white-collar workers in four of China's big cities, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, according to a survey by Beijing Normal University.

These white-collar workers, usually with university degrees, good jobs and salaries, are quite used to overtime work and a new word was coined for them - "over-worked models" (Guo Laomo).

"Increasing pressure from their work in competitive fields is the reason for the emergence of 'over-worked models'," said Xu Yan, a psychology professor from Beijing Normal University, who led the survey.

The professor said she tried to do research on job burnout three years ago, but she couldn't find enough examples. "During the past three years, 'over worked models' sprang up, especially in big cities," she said.

Why do they work overtime?

"I never leave work until 10 o' clock every day for the past two years here," said Wang Fang, who works for a multinational advertising agency in Guangzhou.

"Even taxi drivers know we work overtime - they wait in line downstairs around 11 o' clock to midnight," Wang joked.

Asked why they have to work extra hours, the white-collar workers gave three reasons:

1. Voluntary overtime work. The companies have no compulsory working hours but the staff impose these long hours on themselves to get more pay and a quick promotion.
2. Compulsory overtime. The staff have too much work to do within a limited time, so they stay late into the night in order to finish everything.
3. If others do, I will too. Some staff stay late just because others do. They want their bosses to see they are hard-working.

"The only way to get the boss' attention to you is to work overtime, otherwise you will have no chance to be promoted," said Zhao Jing, an assistant manager of an advertising agency in Beijing.

Ju Ning, a career counselor explained those voluntary "over-worked models" set their vocational aims too high at an early stage instead of achieving their goals step by step.

"Some people are over-energetic during their early years at work but they will gradually run out of energy as time passes. But they mistakenly think they are still not hard-working enough because they don't get the reward they think they deserve. As a result, they drive themselves into more intensive work," Ju explained.
The career advisor suggested white-collared workers should make objective analyses of the reasons why they can't achieve their goals. "Merely attributing the failure to lack of intensive work is not advisable," said Ju.

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