European survey shows Brits have a life both in and outside work

Over a third of Brits enjoy spending time with their colleagues during and outside working hours

London, 1st September 2004 - 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, To what extent are you interested in taking part in organised activities with your colleagues outside work? 763 Monster.co.uk site visitors responded revealing:

34% (260 votes) Yes, I love to spend time with my colleagues during and outside working hours
27% (206 votes) No, I’m not interested
23% (175 votes) Yes, only if the company funds the activity
16% (122 votes) No, I don’t have time - too busy with friends outside of work

Companies in the UK are realising the benefit of encouraging employee relations outside the work environment. Navjot Singh, Global Marketing Manager, Recruitment, Shell International Limited, said We consider team building activities to be as important as training sessions in our company and ensure we conduct off-site exercises for this reason. It is invaluable what you learn about your colleagues during these sessions - we were amazed by our employees’ hidden talents!

The Monster Meter asked the same question to a European audience. 9,314 Europeans placed a vote revealing:

35% (3,282 votes) No, I’m not interested
33% (3,115 votes) Yes, I love to spend time with my colleagues during and outside working hours
16% (1,478 votes) Yes, only if the company funds the activity
16% (1,439 votes) No, I don’t have time - too busy with friends outside of work

Swedish respondents are the unfriendliest workmates as 63% of them stated they are not interested in spending excess time with their colleagues and an additional 4% said they were too busy to socialise with colleagues. One third of the Irish Busy bees said that they didn’t have time to devote to their work colleagues as they were already too busy with friends outside work.

Germans have come out top as nearly 60 % claimed to love spending time with colleagues both during and outside working hours with 57% of Italian respondents feeling the same. Around a quarter of the Finns, French, Danes and Brits who voted were happy to spend time with their colleagues if the activities were company funded. So it seems there is a price to pay for companies to increase interaction amongst its employees

Results of a similar poll conducted by Monster amongst 11,451 Europeans 16 months ago revealed that 44% of Europeans never socialised with their work colleagues and an additional 39% only socialised with them once every few weeks. So it would appear in these busier times that interaction between European work colleagues in a social environment seems to have fallen.

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 users’ opinions on a variety of topics relating to careers, the economy and the workplace. Anyone interested in voting in Monster’s current online poll may do so by logging onto www.monster.co.uk.