Work/life balance is no longer a concern? Says who? According to a recent survey of 1,000 employees from nearly 30 countries, nearly 50 percent of them believe they spend too much time at work, but only about 25 percent of them think it's enough of a problem to do something about it!
Interestingly, in Britian they're preparing for their third Work Your Proper Hours Day to encourage people to make the most of their off-work hours. Apparently, salaried persons are regularly putting in long hours of unpaid overtime. Only 27 percent of British workers claim to have a good work/life balance, so they ought to be looking forward to their upcoming February 24, 2006 day of freedom to reflect on their devotion to job and company above all else.
Here in the United States, we're not doing much better. Nearly half of the Americans surveyed felt their professional lives took up a considerable amount of time, but less than 20 percent said their private life is more important to them than work. Did you hear that? Four out of five people believe their work is more important to them than their personal time outside of the office!
Now I realize that 1,000 people is a relatively small sampling, but I can't help but wonder what's wrong with these people's priorities. No wonder so many are suffering from a midlife crisis! If you devote your whole life to your work, you are bound to wake up one day and realize that you've made some sacrifices along the way -- and some of them may not be sacrifices you really intended to make!
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