GT Writing Task 2 / Essay Sample # 63
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
Many people work long hours, leaving very little time for leisure activities.
Does this situation have more advantages or more disadvantages?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
Model Answer: [View – it has more disadvantages.]
Many people toil at jobs for extensive hours, thereby having hardly any time for leisure pursuits. Just like everything else, working long hours also has its pros and cons. However, I opine that the disadvantages of working long hours outstrip its advantages.
There are myriad positive aspects of working long hours. One key benefit is increasing earning which gives people’s budget a boost, helping them clear their debts and other expenses. They can also set aside some money for a pension plan. Apart from this, it can help to move up the promotion ladder. In this cut-throat corporate world, putting in extra hours is an excellent approach to impress upper-tier management. Take my brother as an example, he won his well-deserved promotion to chief executive due to working longer hours.
On the contrary, the drawbacks of working longer hours cannot be overlooked. Fast and foremost, people with sedentary working hours can severely ruin both physical and mental health. In simple words, it increases the risk of heart disease and is as detrimental to health as smoking. Likewise, many research work has discovered that intense stress of work can cause depression, insomnia, and other mental health concerns. Secondly, it can lead to job dissatisfaction as excessive overtime can drain energy and creativity, which in turn reduces productivity and one may stagnate in career. Last but not least, working longer hours significantly reduces personal time; which translates into less sleep, less time for family members and socializing. A recent study shows that excessive overtime can cause serious family-conflict and the divorce rate augments accordingly.
In fine, although there are significant benefits to working long hours, it is clear that the downsides outweigh the good points. On balance, we should maintain a healthy work-life balance because it is the key to health, relationships, productivity and ultimately work performance.
Many people work long hours, leaving very little time for leisure activities.
Does this situation have more advantages or more disadvantages?
Essay Answer:
People, these days, do not spend much time on leisure activities and keep on working for long hours. In my opinion, this situation brings more disadvantages. This will probably give rise to health issues, poor performance at work, and unhealthy social and personal life.
A couple of consequences can be provided to display the bad aspects of working long hours and having no or little time for leisure activities. Firstly, long working hours may be the reason for both physical and mental health issues among many working people. This is because people are so focused on their work that they neither do any exercises nor have healthy diets. In fact, this will ultimately lead to immense stresses and poor performance in offices. Secondly, these people will gradually lose the social life and have a troublesome personal life. For instance, Mr Kumal in my office, who works really long hours every day, has very fewer friends compared to others. He never allocates time out of his busy schedule to talk with friends and this has tremendously hurt his social life.
Moreover, some people believe that working long hours means there is a scope for more earning and timely accomplishment of office works. But, in my mind, health is always important than wealth, and it is necessary to look after health issues rather than earning some more money. If an employee’s health condition deteriorates, he or she will no longer be able to work and earn. This would lead to even more devastating situations. And according to many experts, it is better to have some solid investment plans to make money instead of working overtime.
To conclude, working long hours just to accomplish work on time or make more money means we are walking towards the situation where our health would be affected sooner than expected. In addition, it will hamper our personal and social life. So it is expected that employees would work sincerely during their recommended working hours and avoid working for long hours by all means.