[March 11, 2019] |
|
What Would You Do with More Time? Workers Worldwide Provide Their Work-Life Wishlist
Today, on National Napping Day and the day after Daylight Savings in the
U.S., The
Workforce Institute at Kronos
Incorporated released part two of a global survey examining how
employees across eight nations view their relationship with work and
life, asking the simple question, "What would you do with more time?"
These results from The Workforce Institute at Kronos (News - Alert) and Future
Workplace came from a survey of nearly 3,000 workers across Australia,
Canada, France, Germany, India, Mexico, the U.K., and the U.S. Part one,
"The
Case for a 4-day Workweek?," uncovered that 75 percent of workers
say it should take less than seven hours each day to do their job - yet
specific time-wasters attribute to two in five employees working more
than 40 hours a week, with 71 percent saying work interferes with their
personal lives. Part two asks employees: If you could get these lost
hours back in your day, what would you do with more time?
News Facts
-
People wish they could spend more time with family, traveling, and
taking better care of their mental and physical health in their
personal lives.
-
With more time, the top five things people worldwide wish they
could do more of are spend time with family (44 percent); travel
(43 percent); exercise (33 percent); spend time with friends (30
percent); and pursue their hobbies (29 percent).
-
Rest and relaxation were also big themes, as 27 percent of people
worldwide said they would want to get more sleep and nearly
one-quarter (22 percent) would focus on mental health. More sleep
is a universal desire regardless of age - from Gen Z (27 percent)
to Baby Boomers (26 percent) - although U.S. workers (33 percent)
crave more sleep than all other nations, with Indian workers
desiring the least amount of additional shuteye (16 percent).
-
While all nations rate spending time with family and travel as
their top two desires, the remaining top five "more time" wish
lists vary by country. For instance, employees in France, Germany,
the U.S., and the U.K. listed "sleep more" as a top five-priority;
U.K. and India workers wish they had time to learn a new skill or
hobby; people in Mexico and India would spend more time watching
TV, movies, or listening to music; and Mexico employees were the
only ones to have "read more" in their top five.
-
On the bright side, 62 percent of all workers agree that their job
offers enough flexibility to have a healthy work-life balance,
while only 14 percent either disagree or strongly disagree.
-
What would you do with more time at work? Personal development
leads the way.
-
Regardless of age, role, level, or country, all employees wish
they could spend more time developing new skills, as it was the
top-rated answer for both individual contributors (44 percent) and
people managers (40 percent) alike - with exactly half of Gen Z
respondents and 47 percent of Millennials craving more time to
develop skills.
-
A whopping 66 percent of employees in India wish they had time
to develop new skills, with the U.K. (49 percent), Mexico (48
percent), and Australia (47 percent) following suit as the
nations where more professional development is desired the
most.
-
People managers specifically would spend more time with people, as
four of their top six answers include developing or training
employees (no. 2); building relationships with their team (no. 4);
coaching or mentoring others (no. 6 - tie); and helping customers
(no. 6 - tie).
-
While helping customers was the second highest-rated wish for
individual contributors (31 percent) - and a greater desire the
older the worker - the remaining top-five desires fall squarely in
the personal maintenance camp: take a meal break (no. 3); take a
mental break / meditate (no. 4); and catch up on work (no. 5).
-
Both managers and employees - especially in Australia - wish they
could spend more time on long-term or significant projects (27
percent and 23 percent, respectively), and 23 percent of employees
wish they had more time to innovate, brainstorm new ideas, or find
a better way of doing things.
-
Workers in Mexico (37 percent), Canada (27 percent), and Germany
(26 percent) would use extra time to exercise during the workday.
On the opposite spectrum, only 13 percent of U.K. employees would
use extra time to exercise, but 32 percent wish there was more
time to eat.
-
Workers in Ausralia, the U.K., and the U.S. apparently feel the
busiest, as they are most likely to spend additional time in the
day simply catching up on work. While organizations in France need
to watch out, as one in four French workers would spend extra time
looking for a new job compared to the worldwide average of 16
percent and Mexico at only 11 percent.
Supporting Quotes
-
Joyce Maroney, executive director, The Workforce Institute at Kronos
"While
the vast majority of workers say work interferes with their personal
lives, it's clear that people want to do meaningful work and want to
do well by their employers. It's the employer's responsibility not
only to provide workers with the tools, processes, and resources to
optimize their time at work, but also to empower employees to best
manage work-life harmony with clear and specific time-off policies,
creative and self-service scheduling solutions, benefits to help relax
and refuel, and, above all, open communication between the company,
employees, and their people managers to ensure time while working is
time well spent."
-
Dan Schawbel, best-selling author and research director, Future
Workplace
"Workers worldwide clearly see the benefit to stay
relevant in their jobs by investing time in training, yet also desire
more time with their family, to travel, and get fit. Instead of trying
to have a balanced lifestyle, which is especially difficult in today's
highly connected, technology-driven world, workers should seek
integration, ensuring they allocate time to their biggest professional
and personal priorities each day. There's more of a need today to work
smarter and be more efficient to free up time to invest in things that
matter most, inside and outside of work."
Supporting Resources
-
Note to editors: Please refer to this research as the "What Would You
Do with More Time?" survey by The Workforce Institute at Kronos
Incorporated and Future Workplace.
-
See part one of this same series, "The
Case for a 4-Day Workweek?"
-
Kronos CEO Aron Ain shares how to transform employee engagement into a
growth strategy in his new book, "WorkInspired:
How to Build an Organization Where Everyone Loves to Work," which
includes a chapter titled, "Give Employees Their Time Back."
-
See more
research from The Workforce Institute at Kronos, including the
recent "Working
Your Way" study, which found that organizations often undermine
their own employee experience around work-life harmony when it comes
to time off, productivity, and workload.
-
Subscribe
to follow The
Workforce Institute at Kronos for insight, research, blogs, and
podcasts on how organizations can manage today's modern workforce to
drive engagement and performance.
-
Connect with Kronos via Facebook,
Twitter,
LinkedIn,
Instagram,
and YouTube.
About The Workforce Institute at Kronos
The Workforce Institute at Kronos provides research and education on
critical workplace issues facing organizations around the globe. By
bringing together thought leaders, The Workforce Institute at Kronos is
uniquely positioned to empower organizations with the knowledge and
information they need to manage their workforce effectively and provide
a voice for employees on important workplace issues. A hallmark of The
Workforce Institute's research is balancing the needs and desires of
diverse employee populations with the needs of organizations. For
additional information, visit www.workforceinstitute.org.
About Kronos Incorporated
Kronos is a leading provider of workforce management and human capital
management cloud solutions. Kronos industry-centric workforce
applications are purpose-built for businesses, healthcare providers,
educational institutions, and government agencies of all sizes. Tens of
thousands of organizations - including half of the Fortune 1000®
- and more than 40 million people in over 100 countries use Kronos every
day. Visit www.kronos.com.
Kronos: Workforce Innovation That Works.
Footnote 1: The term "non-managing employees" or "individual
contributors," unless otherwise noted, refers to full- or part-time
employees without any direct reports.
Footnote 2: Generations are defined as follows: Gen Z, born between
1994-2009; Millennials, born between 1982-1993; Gen X born between
1965-1981; and Baby Boomers, born between 1945-1964.
Survey Methodology
Research conducted by Future Workplace on behalf of Kronos
Incorporated based on a survey fielded by market research agency
VIGA between July 31- Aug. 9, 2018. For this survey, 2,772 employees
were asked general questions about their workplace, managers, time, and
work burnout. The study targeted full- and part-time employees living in
Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Mexico, the U.K., and the
U.S. VIGA respondents are recruited through a number of different
mechanisms, via different sources, to join the panels and participate in
market research surveys. All panelists have passed a double opt-in
process and complete, on average, 300 profiling data points prior to
taking part in surveys. Respondents are invited to take part via email
and are provided with a small monetary incentive for doing so. Results
of any sample are subject to sampling variation. The magnitude of the
variation is measurable and is affected by the number of interviews and
the level of the percentages expressing the results. In this particular
study, the chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary,
plus or minus, by more than 1.9 percentage points from the result that
would be obtained if interviews had been conducted with all persons in
the universe represented by the sample. For further questions about
survey methodology, contact [email protected].
© 2019 Kronos Incorporated. All rights reserved. Kronos and the Kronos
logo are registered trademarks and Workforce Innovation That Works is a
trademark of Kronos Incorporated or a related company. See a complete
list of Kronos
trademarks. All other trademarks, if any, are property of their
respective owners.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190311005402/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|