A more common traveling
companion: Europe's senior-level
managers and executives are bringing work with them on holidays. A recent survey* by the leading career
service Experteer (http://www.experteer.co.uk) showed the
majority of respondents travel on holidays with laptop, smartphone, and/or
mobile phone.
When asked about the extent
they engage in job-related activities, differences appeared amongst Europeans:
Whilst almost 60% of the British, the Spanish, French, Swiss French, and Italians
check their work e-mail at least every other day, more Germans do so only in urgent cases or
“never.” The Dutch prefer clearer separation between work and play: more than
one-third never check e-mail whilst on holidays and one-fifth access it only
when urgent.
Expectations whilst working on holidays?
Are there underlying
expectations senior-level professionals have whilst working on holidays? Yes, in a nutshell: 57% of men expect their extra work to be
recognised and 47% want their time compensated. Among women, about half want both.
A few days to mentally get
away?
Two-thirds of Europe’s
leading professionals do not miss work whilst on holidays, with the strongest
sentiment amongst the French and the Spanish. However, that leaves one-third with their minds still
contentedly back in the office.
Like the majority of their
fellow Europeans, almost three-quarters of British senior-level managers and
executives need the initial few days of their holidays to unwind from their job
demands. Part of it is due to the
continuing engagement with work e-mails, but almost 60% are not particularly
interested in contacting their office to check on employees and projects.
More than half of Germans complete their
holidays without the stress of finishing important job tasks. This is not the case for other
Europeans: almost three-quarters of French senior-level professionals must do
so and almost half the British.
Nonetheless, the majority of British senior-level managers and executives will
be taking one to two weeks off this summer, so there will be some time to
unwind from their jobs.
