Australian professionals could learn a lot about work-life balance from countries such as Spain and Ireland found international recruitment firm, Robert Half, in their recent report: ëWorking Hours: A Global Comparisoní.
It is little wonder that Australians are grieving the loss of their weekends with more than 60% saying they work more than one weekend a month. 25% sacrifice one weekend monthly and a further 37% put in two weekends or more per month. In comparison, 65% of Spanish and 58% of Irish managers never work on weekends.
ìAustralia is stuck in a skills shortage which is clearly placing pressure on the available workforce to put in more hours,î explains Robert Half Director, Richard Dunks.
There were a variety of reasons given for why people are working longer hours. Respondents cited an increase in responsibility and thus more pressure (61%), company growth (54%) and understaffing (31%) as the main reasons. Surprisingly, it is not about salary. Minor reasons were differences in time zones (7%), a desire to earn more money (6%) feeling obliged to keep up with colleagues (4%) and manager insistence (2%).
ìAs companies expand understaffing can become an issue, which becomes more pronounced during a skills shortage,î said Dunks. ìAs a result, people are working harder just to get the job done. The skills shortage means people are also being promoted earlier than they were in the past, and so may have to put in longer hours to learn their new roles.î
The standard 40-hour work week has dramatically changed for the majority of Australian professionals. The survey revealed that 70% of employees work between 39 to 55 hours per week. A further 11% work more than 55 hours per week with men more than four times (22%) as likely to exceed 55 hours as women (5%). 62% of all Australian respondents to the survey said their work hours have increased in the last two years.
This reported rise in work hours is not limited to people working late during the week. The research further revealed ways in which Australian professionals are extending their working hours:
38% of Australians always leave their mobile phones on and check work emails in the evenings,
An additional 42% take work calls and check emails if they are working to deadline
41% of Australians take their PDAs or laptops on holiday and 13% cannot relax while away unless they are in touch with the office
In comparison, Australiaís nearest neighbour, New Zealand, is also putting in long hours with 49% working one weekend or more a month. And for those thinking of relocating to Hong Kong, they may want to consider that 90% of professionals work at least every other weekend. Other countries with long hours, working one or more weekends, are Canada (68%), Japan (74%) and Italy (76%).
ìWorking extra hours and taking work home sometimes goes with the territory of being a manager,î Dunks concludes. ìBut we all need to ensure that even in times of strong economic growth we maintain a healthy balance between work and the rest of our lives.î
Additional Australian statistics:
Employees in small companies (less then 50) are far more likely to work from home in the evenings than those from large(over 200) employees
Only 37% of Australians say they never work on weekends
59% donít take work with them on holiday and donít think much about work
Whatever happened to the weekend?
Research reveals Aussies continue to work long hours and some may struggle to switch off
