WORK HARDER AND SMARTER?

Submitted by ub on

A good friend of ours was mentioning that it felt like their employer was expecting them to work all hours of the day and night. Apparently, this is turning out to be thew new norm. Could this be the demise of 9 to 5?

Findings indicate the following: 2 in 5 workers keep working outside of traditional office hours;
1 in 4 check on work during activities with family and friends; Men more likely to be tied to the office

According to a new survey indicates that, much like flip phones and fax machines, the traditional eight-hour work day may be on its way out. More than 1,000 full-time workers in information technology, financial services, sales, and professional and business services – industries that historically have more traditional work hours – participated in the nationwide study, conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder from May 14 to June 3, 2015, to discuss their habits and attitudes toward the traditional nine-to-five work day.

According to the survey, 63 percent of workers in these industries believe “working nine to five” is an outdated concept, and a significant number have a hard time leaving the office mentally. Nearly 1 in 4 (24 percent) check work emails during activities with family and friends.

Is Working 5 to 9 the New 9 to 5?

Today, many workers in these industries find themselves working outside of the traditional eight-hour time frame: 50 percent of these workers say they check or respond to work emails outside of work, and nearly 2 in 5 (38 percent) say they continue to work outside of office hours.

Though staying connected to the office outside of required office hours may seem like a burden, most of these workers (62 percent) perceive it as a choice rather than an obligation.

“Workers want more flexibility in their schedules, and with improvements in technology that enable employees

Out of Sight, Not Out of Mind

But just because the office – or the blackberry – is out of sight, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s out of mind: 20 percent of these workers say work is the last thing they think about before they go to bed, and more than twice as many (42 percent) say it’s the first thing they think about when they wake up. Nearly 1 in 5 of these workers (17 percent) say they have a tough time enjoying leisure activities because they are thinking about work.

Breakdown by Gender

Male workers in these fields are more likely than female workers to work outside of office hours (44 percent versus 32 percent); check or respond to work emails outside of work (59 percent versus 42 percent); and check on work activities while they are out with friends and family (30 percent versus 18 percent).

Female workers, however, are more likely than male workers to go to bed thinking about work (23 percent versus 16 percent).

Perspectives by Age Group

When it comes to working outside of traditional office hours, 31 percent of 18- to 24-year-old workers in these fields will work outside of office hours, compared to 50 percent of 45- to 54-year-old workers and 38 percent of workers ages 55 and above. Meanwhile, 52 percent of workers ages 18-24 check or respond to work emails outside of work, versus 46 percent of workers ages 55 and above.

Seventy percent of workers ages 55 and above in these fields say they stay connected to the office by choice, compared to 56 percent of workers ages 18-24 who say the same.

Younger workers in these fields are also more likely than older workers to think about work before going to bed (31 percent of workers ages 18-24 versus 11 percent of workers ages 55 and above), or wake up thinking about work (59 percent versus 31 percent).

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder among 1,078 employees ages 18 and over (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) in the IT, financial services, sales and professional and business services industries between May 14 and June 3, 2015. . With a pure probability sample of 1,078, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 2.98 percentage points.

www.careerbuilder.com.