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"Always-on" culture blurring work/life balance

Written by ksimonsen | 19/04/12 09:40


Executives are spending an increasing amount of time dealing with work related issues and decisions outside of the typical 9-to-5 working hours.

That's according to the "@Work State of Mind Project", a new report from advertising agency Gyro and Forbes Insights, the strategic research practice arm of Forbes Media. The report suggests that 63 per cent of business executives check their email at least once every two hours.

Furthermore, 53 per cent of high-ranking staff - for example a CEO - would happily step away from a family occasion in order to deal with a business issue, cites btobonline.com.

The research also goes on to highlight that out of their survey of 543 business decision-makers, 59 per cent would feel happy making business decisions at home but only 15 per cent struggle to separate work from leisure.

The "always-on" culture of today has been cited as one of the reasons why work and home life has become so blurred, with the introduction of tablets/smartphones/video conferencing allowing decision makers to constantly stay in touch with colleagues.

Christoph Becker, chief executive of Gyro, commented on the figures to thisisnottingham.co.uk: "Our research challenges the perception that people are unable to juggle busy working lives with personal time. In fact, UK decision-makers are blending work and personal time."