New research of 8,800 workers from across Europe shows the line between work and home life is becoming increasingly blurred, with two-thirds (67%) of employees saying work is keeping them busy out of hours. This is according to the ninth annual Edenred-Ipsos Barometer.
New mobile communication platforms (laptops, Smartphones, tablets, etc) are making it easier for people to work from home – around half (54%) of UK organisations give employees access to this technology.
Whilst the research found the amount of time spent working is currently the main professional concern for 28% of UK employees, they rank second happiest in Europe with regards to their quality of life at work. Results also indicate that it is not just work creeping into home-life, 62% of UK employees complete their personal errands during work time.
However, organisations cannot afford to become complacent. While these new tools are perceived as having a positive impact on the quality of life at work, the actions taken by companies to adapt to this trend are still judged to be insufficient: 39% feel that the efforts made to introduce new ways of organising work are insufficient, 36% feel the same about wellbeing at work and 28% about the flexibility of the organisation of working hours.
Andy Philpott, sales and marketing director at Edenred says, “Whilst UK workers would appear to be relatively happy with their quality of life at work organisations must not become complacent. Over a third (39%) of UK employees say that they have considered leaving their current employer and 28% believe they will find it easy to get a similar job elsewhere.
“As well as flexible working, employees are looking for flexible reward and benefit packages that they can customise to best fit their lifestyle. Employers need to recognise this in a bid to attract, motivate and retain top talent.”
