Robin Moglia climbed the corporate ladder, traveled around the country and made plenty of money during the 20 years she worked as a corporate graphic designer. But by the time she was in her early 40s, she had reached a conclusion: It was all wrong.

Moglia said the stress took its toll. She was working 70 hours a week. She was losing weight. She was having trouble sleeping. And the two-hour-each-way commute between her Point Pleasant, N.J., home and New York City was exhausting.

"I was feeling like a zombie," said Moglia, now 43.

More workers are taking steps to combat that feeling — even if it means a financial risk. Moglia, for example, started her own lingerie boutique about a year ago, preferring to scale back her spending rather than continue on the path she was on.

As workers labor harder and faster and have cell phones and laptops to keep them in constant contact with their bosses, co-workers and customers, more are asking: Is it worth it?

"It's the ceaseless demand," said Ellen Galinsky, of the Families and Work Institute.

Workers are electronically tethered to the office. They can't focus because they're frequently interrupted. "Those are the things that affect your mood and your energy," she said.

Two-income couples worked a combined 82 hours a week in 2002, up from 70 hours a week in 1977. And a poll released last August by Harris Interactive and Kronos Inc., a human resource management company, found that 43 percent of employees saw an increase in their work hours during the previous six months; 77 percent of these employees were looking for a new job.

The crunch has created workers who increasingly avoid promotions because they know that with extra money will come longer hours and, perhaps, less fulfillment. About 52 percent of college-educated men and 36 percent of college-educated women wanted jobs with more responsibility in 2002, compared with 68 percent and 57 percent respectively in 1992, Galinsky said.

"The impact is, people are either wanting not to advance, or are leaving for jobs ... that are more manageable," Galinsky said.

Some companies are using that as a selling point to recruit workers. Edward Jones, a St. Louis-based investment company, is expanding in New Jersey in part by promoting its business model, which provides brokers with an office in the community in or close to where they live.

In 2004, 127,000 workers inquired about a job with the company, 28,000 filled out an application and 2,500 were hired. The typical job candidate was 36 or 37 years old and had worked for two or three other employers, Woodward said.

"They know exactly what they are looking for, what they want and don't want," Woodward said. "Having the ability to live and work in the same community is very appealing, especially when you get the opportunity to be in business by yourself with an assistant, and you can control your income by doing meaningful work."

The trade-off, however, poses hazards. Mario Cornacchia, 49, retired early as part of a buyout package from Lucent Technologies in 2001 and took a job teaching high school mathematics.

But with two daughters in college, he had to think about whether working as a teacher was financially feasible; his starting salary would be one-third of what he once made. He decided that his retirement income, real estate investments and teacher's salary would be enough.

"Clearly it had to be a financial match," Cornacchia said. "It was calculated and well-planned."