Why Single People Have to Work Harder

Single? You’re not alone. More than a quarter of American adults are living in a “nonfamily household,” according to the US Census Bureau. This can be loosely translated as no spouse, no kids, further translated in the workplace to mean: You have all the free time in the world to do extra work. Whether it’s “voluntary” overtime or the business trip far from home, many bosses find it easier to ask their single employees to pick up the slack—they figure with no families to go home to, you won’t mind a few extra hours at the office. But is that really fair? We looked into this practice and show how you can stop your single status from hurting your work and home life.

“If you’re going to be away on a business trip, you’re more likely to be sent [if you’re single] because you don’t have a spouse or children,” says Joy Gugeler, editor-in-chief of Suite 101.com.

Jenn Willhite, a single design assistant in California, has lived this experience. “I was working as an event planner assistant and we were planning a banquet at the Hyatt in San Diego. I had to stay overnight at the hotel, work tons of overtime, and be there really early to set up. It was easier [for my boss] to ask me because I didn’t have kids or a husband to go home to,” she says.

Beyond overtime and the need to be available for planning special functions outside of work, a double-standard exists for single employees.

“I have a team of about five people who work under me,” explains 36-year-old Marni Wedin, a producer with CityTV in Vancouver and a voluntarily single person. Wedin says she doesn’t ask people to work overtime because she knows they’re single, but when situations arise where she does ask for overtime help from an unentangled staffer and they turn her down, it can make her blood boil. “If I ask a single person with no kids to do overtime and they say no or that they can’t, I’m fine with that…but deep down inside, I’m seething. I don’t mean to do it, but I do,” Wedin says.