Extreme work hours are a defining feature of professional service firms, typically explained through formal controls such as time sheets and performance targets, or through cultural norms that make overwork appear as professional commitment. Yet why does acceptance of this persist even when professionals recognise the personal cost? In their research, Profs. Ioana Lupu and Shanming Liu at  ESSEC Business School show that employee compliance is sustained not only through control and culture, but through the synchronisation of individuals with the organisation’s rhythm of work.

Locked In: Why extreme work hours persist in professional services firms by CoBS Editor Hari Chandana Chinni. Related research: The entrainment cycle: Understanding professionals’ compliance with extreme work hours in professional service firms, Ioana Lupu, Shanming Liu, Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2025.101597

Beyond control: A persistent puzzle

Existing research explains long working hours through two organizational controls mechanisms – technocratic controls and socio-ideological controls. The former regulate how professionals use their time, while the latter shape identities and expectations around work. Together, these mechanisms explain why extreme hours are normalised and often accepted.

Yet this leaves an important question. Professionals frequently acknowledge the strain of such work patterns, and organisations have introduced initiatives to reduce pressure. Despite these initiatives, acceptance of overwork remains remarkably stable in professional settings. Research by Profs. Lupu and Liu addresses this gap by shifting attention from beliefs and incentives to the temporal experience of work.

Compliance is not just enforced. It is entrained

The paper introduces the concept of the entrainment cycle to explain how organisational controls operate. Entrainment refers to the process through which individual rhythms become aligned with a dominant collective tempo – they are carried along in the flow. In professional service firms – law, consulting, advertising or accounting services – this means that individuals gradually adjust their pace, routines and expectations to match the organisation’s fast-paced work rhythm.

As this alignment deepens, the organisation’s temporal structure takes precedence over individual preferences. Extreme work hours are therefore not only imposed but continuously reproduced through synchronisation with collective rhythms.

Two pathways of synchronisation

The study identifies two interrelated mechanisms through which this alignment is achieved: bureaucratic and cultural entrainment.

• Bureaucratic entrainment: Aligning pace and career cycles

Formal control systems structure both the speed and trajectory of work. Time sheets, targets and deadlines create a continuous sense of urgency, aligning professionals with an intense daily pace. Individuals track their time in fine increments, reinforcing a constant awareness of productivity and extending working hours.

At the same time, the design of career trajectories produces longer-term alignment. Promotion models, performance evaluations and escalating targets create a cycle in which professionals must continuously increase their effort. This aligns not only daily activity but entire career trajectories with organisational rhythms.

• Cultural entrainment: Embedding work in everyday life

Cultural mechanisms reinforce these formal controls by embedding them in routines and identities. Material arrangements such as constant connectivity extend work into private life, making disengagement difficult. Work becomes a continuous presence rather than a bounded activity.

Normative expectations further strengthen this alignment. Through socialisation and peer dynamics, professionals come to see long hours as a signal of commitment and competence. Over time, these expectations are internalised, making extreme work patterns appear natural rather than imposed.

The core Insight: synchronization is emotional and embodied

The study’s central contribution is to show that synchronization operates not only at a behavioural or cognitive level, but also through emotions and the body.

When individuals are in sync with organisational rhythms, they experience positive states such as energy, engagement and a sense of achievement. These experiences reinforce continued participation. At the same time, the body adapts to sustained intensity, developing tolerance for long hours and high levels of stress.

Conversely, periods of desynchronisation produce negative experiences, including reduced motivation, anxiety, and restlessness. These responses make disengagement uncomfortable, even when it reduces workload.

Put me in the loop: The entrainment cycle

These dynamics form a self-reinforcing loop. Synchronisation generates positive reinforcement, while desynchronisation produces discomfort. This contrast drives individuals back toward alignment with organisational rhythms.

Over time, this creates an entrainment cycle in which professionals become locked into patterns of extreme work. Thus, their compliance with long hours is sustained not only by external controls, but by internalised emotional and bodily responses that make alternative rhythms difficult to envisage or maintain.

What this changes

The findings offer a different perspective on why extreme work hours persist. Compliance cannot be understood solely as a result of incentives, identity or culture. It is sustained through continuous alignment with organisational time structures at multiple levels.

This suggests that efforts to reduce excessive work intensity may be limited if they focus only on formal policies or cultural change. As long as the underlying rhythms of work remain unchanged, the cycle of synchronisation is likely to persist.

Useful links:

• Link up with Ioana Lupu on LinkedIn
• Read a related article: The Way to Changing an Overwork Culture: Unions or individual action? 
• Discover ESSEC Business School France–Singapore–Morocco
• Apply for the ESSEC Global MBA
• Are you an ESSEC Alumni living and working in Singapore? Join the upcoming CoBS Global Alumni Meet Up on June 10th at ESSEC Asia-Pacific! Register here.

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