Working 24/7

Lesley Stahl On Why Americans Are Working Longer

(CBS) 
60 Minutes visited the corporate headquarters of Best Buy, the electronics retailer, in Richfield, Minn. Employees Stacy Verstraight, Jason Dehne and Marissa Plume say that putting in 60- to 80-hour weeks got them pats on the back.

"You know, you'd send an e-mail at nine o'clock at night. And the next thing your co-workers would say, 'Hey, wow, were you working that whole time? Wow. Great job,'" says Marissa.

But if you weren’t there at the crack of dawn, you were put down.

"You know, if I come in at nine o'clock or 10 o'clock, I was at a doctor's appointment, you know, people are saying, 'Oh gee. Glad you could show up today.' You know, so it felt [like] a little bit of a dig," says Stacy. "And people were just watching other people. So it felt like a lot of unnecessary pressure."

"I canceled booked vacations. I mean I booked vacations, and I'd cancel 'em because I had to work," Jason recalls.

In 2002, after a jump in people quitting and filing stress-related health claims, Best Buy launched an experiment: employees would be allowed to work wherever and whenever they wanted, as long as they got their jobs done.

That means the BestBuy.com unit that Chap Achen manages often looks like a ghost town.

"Some folks literally don't come in the office for weeks at a time," says Achen.

If asked where a specific employee physically is, Achen says he doesn't know. "I couldn't tell you if he was in his basement or he was at a Starbucks with a wireless connection."

Since the Best Buy experiment started, Jason's health has improved. Normally at his desk by 7:30 a.m., he now jogs to his local coffee shop and takes his 8 a.m. conference call by cell phone.

Marissa, a night owl, now does her best work around midnight from her bedroom.

"I have to trust that my team is going to get the work done in this environment," says Achen. "And the ironic thing about it is that it's that trust factor that actually makes them work harder for you."

"And just as long?" Stahl asked

"And just as long," he replied.

Or longer. Stacy, Jason and Marissa say they often work more hours than they did before. Not a bad deal for the company. Productivity among employees in the program has jumped a healthy 35 percent.

"We can spread out our work over seven days of the week," explains Stacy.

Asked why that's a positive, Jason says, "It's the way I choose to work."

"But if it takes 70 hours to do your job, why doesn't Best Buy go hire more people?" Stahl asked.

"You know, I am a happier employee, with the trust," says Stacy.

Asked if she wants to work the 70 hours, Stacy replied, "I love what I do."

The group all said they didn't think they were working too much when asked by Stahl.

"You're brainwashed," Stahl said, laughing.

"Maybe we're all crazy," Jason said. "Maybe we are," Stacy added, laughing.

Maybe they are: They don't even make more money for the longer hours. But when you try to cut back on the hours, it's not that easy.

Mike Moody and Jeff Ward left high stress, six-day-a-week jobs as big-city lawyers because they wanted to spend more time with their wives and children. They decided to do what more and more working mothers are doing — share a job.

"Well, for the first six months of the job, I was referred to as the new Joanne," says Jeff.

The job of assistant in-house counsel at Timberland in Stratum, N.H. had been filled by two women for years.

"I have two weekends a week. Yeah," says Mike. "And I have a four-day weekend," Jeff adds.

It is a pretty sweet deal. They each work three days a week, overlapping on Tuesdays.

How do they keep the office from pulling them back in on their days off?

"It's a constant struggle," Jeff admits. "We're always on call because of the BlackBerry."

"The crackberry," Mike jokes.