Friends come before colleagues in Ireland

Though 33% of Europeans claim to love spending time with work colleagues, 35% say they are not interested in taking part in activities with colleagues outside working hours

It is no big secret that a good atmosphere at work improves staff morale and increases staff retention. Employers who recognise the importance of employee satisfaction will achieve better business results. One way to ensure employees get to know each other better and feel more motivated is through work related activities yet how much of our free time are we Europeans prepared to give up to socialise with work colleagues?

The Monster Meter asked, ìTo what extent are you interested in taking part in organised activities with your colleagues outside work?î The results revealing:

16% ìNo, I don’t have time - too busy with friends outside of workî
35% ìNo, Iím not interestedî
33% ìYes, I love to spend time with my colleagues during and outside working hoursî
16% ìYes, only if the company funds the activityî

The results in Ireland however showed:

33% ìNo, I don’t have time - too busy with friends outside of workî
28% ìNo, Iím not interestedî
21% ìYes, I love to spend time with my colleagues during and outside working hoursî
18% ìYes, only if the company funds the activityî

ìDespite the fact that we continue to spend more of our time at work it seems as though in Ireland we have managed to prioritise our friends over our colleagues. The only time we might consider questioning this loyalty is of course when the company offers to pay for the social activity!î

ìWe consider these team building activities as important as training sessions in our company and ensure we conduct at least two out-of-the-office exercises per year. It is invaluable what you learn about your colleagues during these sessions - we often are amazed by our employeesí hidden skills!î said Alan Townsend, Managing Director of Monster.ie

Swedish respondents are the least interested in taking part in activities with colleagues outside working hours. 63% of the Swedish voters said they were not interested in spending more time with their colleagues than the required working hours. An additional 4% said they were too busy to socialise with work colleagues.

Germans have come out top in terms of spending time with their work colleagues. Nearly 60 % claimed to love spending time with colleagues both during and outside working hours. Italians also love spending time with colleagues, 57% of Italian respondents said so. On the other hand, 29% of Finnish voters admitted they were interested in taking part in activities with their colleagues if the company funded the outings. Similarly, 26% of French, 23% of Danes and 23% of Brits said so, too. This prompts us to think that there is a price to pay for companies to enhance interaction amongst its employeesÖ

ìWe consider team building activities as important as training sessions in our company and ensure we conduct at least two out-of-the-office exercises per year. It is invaluable what you learn about your colleagues during these sessions - we were amazed by our employeesí hidden skills!î said Alan Townsend, Managing Director of Monster.ie

The results of the current Monster Meter are based on votes cast by Monster.com visitors from 2nd to 16th August 2004. Only one vote per user is counted toward the final tabulation. The Monster Meter, a product of Monster, the leading global online careers site and flagship brand of Monster Worldwide Inc., is a series of online polls that gauge usersí opinions on a variety of topics relating to careers, the economy and the workplace. Anyone interested in voting in Monsterís current online poll may do so by logging onto www.monster.ie.