It turns out that the typical workweek is becoming a thing of the past, thanks to new and unique office solutions.
A survey from the global assurance, tax, and advisory service organization EY,shows that the boundaries that separate work and life balance are becoming obsolete. Thanks to teleworking, the work-life balance so many strive to achieve may soon be antiquated.
According to the survey, 24/7 connectivity to our jobs has caused 64% of survey recipients to report working two to four hours more a week, and 36% to be on the job an extra five hours or more. Glassdoor, a company that provides anonymous job reviews by previous employees, found a recent drop in employee satisfaction rates. They polled employees from over 60,000 companies, and they reported a drop in ratings to 3.5 out of five in 2009 to 3.2 this year.
And the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) believes that a part of the problem is that more and more employees are working remotely than ever before. In their annual American Time Use Survey, BLS researchers asked everyday Americans to report how they spent their time each hour of the day. Their data was then broken down into categories based on gender, part- or full-time jobs, age, education, single job holders, and multiple job holders.
Of those who reported working 7.6 hours per workday, 82% did some or all of their work at the office, while 24% worked remotely. Of that total, 38% of employees worked in management, business, and financial occupations.
The amount of people working from home or working remotely has increased 19% from 2003. The survey also shows that those who worked from home worked 40 minutes more than they would at the office.
Women who have earned Bachelor’s Degrees are more likely to work from home by a whopping 39%. While this may be because many offices are now adding more work from home options, they are doing so because of the many benefits that come with working from home. These benefits include the option to skip the commute every day, reduce attrition within the employees, the ability to save on business wide costs, and an employee productivity boost of 67%.
So even though the standard for a work week may be changing, employee benefits are on the rise. It is a win-win for all, perhaps?
