KEY POINTS:
If this sounds like you or people in your business, you're not alone. New findings by market insights company Big Picture have found that more New Zealanders are working longer hours than ever before. For example:
- 37% of Kiwis work extra hours in their own time to complete work tasks
- 19% of workers put in more than 50 hours a week*
- New Zealanders have the second highest hours of work of any employees
in the OECD, second only to Iceland per capita
The implications of these findings are two-fold. Personal time is being eroded by work resulting in more business being done in the home and the workplace is becoming more personal to accommodate the needs of employees.
Some practical examples of this are personal mobile phones being used for work, and laptops with residential broadband being used as a way of working from home, with the phone bills being split between employer and employee.
This change in work/life balance means small businesses need to decide how much they wish to accommodate working from home as part of their culture, or to meet the needs of their staff. In future, it is likely that work/life integration will be a deciding factor in staff retention.
Integrator or Separatist?
Big Picture also found that small businesses and individuals have different attitudes to this new work/life balance. They identified two groups; the Integrators and Separatists. These two groups sit at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to attitude and eagerness to adopt changing work styles.
The Separatists
- Are more likely to keep their personal life and work separated
- Are more likely to take a low tech approach to business
- Are in occupations/businesses that are less reliant on technology
- Are more likely to resent the intrusion of communication technology
The Integrators
- Have a greater seamlessness between use of technologies at home and at work
- Like technology for technology sake, and have an interest in finding out about 'innovations'
- Work in occupations and professions that are harder to leave at the office door
- Often see doing work in personal time as part of getting ahead
Your business may have a mix of Integrators and Separatists and it is important to accommodate each. However, as lives become busier and work continues to encroach on what was traditionally 'personal time' having the ability to accommodate the Integrators may well result in a more productive workplace with higher staff retention.
*source: Workplace Leaders' Summit