Abstract
Extended work hours have long been recognized as harmful to employees’ work-life balance and limiting their capacity to meet nonwork responsibilities. This study, however, uncovers the unintended consequences of a norm against extended work hours. Through a longitudinal interview study with 38 individuals in Finland, we examined their transition from intensive master’s studies, where coursework and part-time jobs were combined and occurred extensively at any time without clear work–nonwork boundaries, to full-time knowledge work characterized by a norm against extended work hours. Our findings show that while this norm helps protect employees’ work–nonwork boundaries, it simultaneously intensifies both work and nonwork activities. We identify both resisting and conforming practices from employees, with the former becoming marginalized, allowing the norm to perpetuate. We contribute to the work-life literature by illuminating the nuanced interplay between work intensification and work extensification. Whereas prior studies often treat them as coexisting or mutually reinforcing processes, we show that avoiding work extensification outside normal hours may instead foster work intensification. Further, departing from the common understanding that extended work hours limit employees’ abilities to engage in nonwork activities, we reveal that an intensification of nonwork activities can stem from the cascading effects of work intensification within regular work hours—effects that amplify employees’ need for work detachment after-hours, constrain work–nonwork flexibility, and foster the internalization of a productivity-oriented, fast-paced mindset.