Working longer but wasting time online
Hong Kong people are clocking long hours at work, but a lot of that time may be spent unproductively surfing the web, a survey released today has found.
More than one in two respondents said they felt overloaded with work, 43.4 per cent said they made avoidable mistakes when swamped with work, and 29.7 per cent said they were less efficient because they knew they would be spending a long day at work. One in three workers said they would surf the web or browse social-media websites during work hours to reduce stress.
Non-profit group Community Business conducted the annual work-life balance survey by interviewing 1,003 full-time employees aged 15 and over.
Respondents said they felt swamped with work because they thought they were understaffed and that their bosses were only interested in maximising profits and were not concerned about their well-being.
The survey found that disenchanted employees were a concern for companies retaining talent. Twenty-eight per cent said they would consider improving their work-life balance by resigning, changing jobs or taking a career break, while 19.7 per cent even said they would leave Hong Kong to pursue a healthy work-life balance.
The survey found 18.5 per cent of respondents would give up career advancement in exchange for less work and more personal time, while 15.4 per cent would take a pay cut to enjoy a better work-life balance.
When asked to rate out of 10 whether workers had achieved a work-life balance, the average was 6.17 - a rise from the past five years of 5.6 and 5.7.
