Steelcase Workplace Index Survey Reveals Growing Trend of Working
on Vacation; - Study Finds Leaving Work Behind is the Exception to the Rule -
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Through a survey of nearly
700 office workers in the United States, the study revealed that only 61
percent of Americans use all of their allotted vacation time and almost
half (43 percent) of the respondents spent at least some time working during
their vacation. And the trend of working on vacation is growing
significantly. Comparisons to a similar study conducted by Steelcase
revealed that those who report working while on vacation has nearly
doubled (43 percent versus 23 percent) in the 10 years since the last survey.
When asked the reasons why
people work while on vacation, the majority of respondents reported it
is because they are "committed to the job" (25 percent) or have
"a pressing assignment that needs to be take care of" (22 percent).
Additional reasons for working on vacation include "don't want to
leave it all for when I get back" (12 percent), "technology makes it
easy" (11 percent) and the inability to "relax until things are taken
care of" (10 percent).
"Whenever we observe
a marked trend over time, the first question we ask is why and the second is
the impact it has on workers and the workplace," said Chris Congdon, manager of corporate marketing for Steelcase. "This data causes us to question
whether job commitment has increased or if the ease of connectivity enables
workers to demonstrate their job commitment remotely and persistently. In either case, the ability to connect to work from anywhere
challenges the notion of what constitutes a workplace and demonstrates
the need for worker support outside of the office - notions which interest Steelcase tremendously."
The type of vacation
work is either to "complete an assignment" (35 percent) or to
"catch up on paperwork" (28 percent), whereas in the 1995 survey,
most reported they worked on vacation to "catch up on work-related
reading" (40 percent) and to "check in with the boss" (34
percent). Approximately 19 percent of this year's participants said that they
spent two hours or less working while on vacation. However, almost one
out of four respondents (24 percent) spent three or more hours working during
their vacation, cutting down on valuable rest and relaxation time.
The Gender Divide
The survey also looked at
the influence gender has on working on vacation. Findings revealed that
more men bring work on vacation than women (55 percent versus 43
percent). This proportion hasn't changed since the 1995 survey, when the
results were 26 percent of men versus 18 percent of women, although the total
number of men and women working on vacation has grown substantially.
This year's survey revealed that women are more likely than men to work during
a vacation to take care of a pressing assignment, while men are more
likely to work during a vacation because technology makes it easy to
complete assignments and to put out fires with clients.
Technology has and
continues to play a critical role in enabling Americans to work on vacation.
In fact, 80 percent of those that worked on their last vacation said
that they utilized technology to complete their work. However, the technology
used over the years is changing. The survey revealed that the technology that
most encourages people to work during a vacation is a laptop computer
(41 percent). Other technologies include the cellular phone (30 percent), a PC
(10 percent) or a Blackberry (7 percent). In 1995, the cell phone was the
culprit for encouraging the most work on vacation, according to 56
percent of the respondents. Other popular technologies in 1995 included the
beeper, the fax machine, the laptop and the PC.
Steelcase conducts Workplace Index Surveys
to uncover pertinent issues in today's work environment. This continual
workforce feedback is essential to the development of Steelcase's
information and expertise on the workplace, and to the company's product
development and corporate ventures aimed to increase effectiveness, efficiency,
productivity and environmental responsibility.
Results of parts two and
three in the Nature of Work in 2006 series examine personalization of the
office and ergonomics, and will be unveiled in August 2006 and September 2006,
respectively. Past survey results on productivity in the workplace, technology
used in meetings, employee organization and storage, as well as weekend work
are available on Steelcase's Web site at
http://www.steelcase.com .
About Steelcase Inc.
Steelcase, the global leader in the office
furniture industry, helps people have a better work experience by providing
products, services and insights into the ways people work. The company designs
and manufactures architecture, furniture and technology products. Founded in
1912 and headquartered in
SOURCE Steelcase
Sara Whitman for Steelcase, +1-212-931-6121, swhitman@peppercom.com
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