A recent study in the US and UK confirms email is not-so-slowly taking over our lives. A survey of over 3,000 people points to a shift of from relaxation on vacation or the weekend to – you guessed it – more time working on email.
Here are the key takeaways from the survey:
The 9-5 work day is history! There is no such thing anymore as the 9-5 work day in either the U.S. or the U.K. with the majority of workers regularly checking email on vacations, sick days, at home in bed, etc.
- 72% of Americans and 68% of Brits check their email outside of regular business hours (vacations, weekends, non-work days)
- 42% of Americans checking email outside of work hours shared that they do so when they take sick days compared to only 26% of Brits
* Relax on Vacation? Seems like Americans need to take a tip from the Brits: 50% of Americans check email on vacation/during days off compared to 29% of Brits
Even the bedroom isn’t sacred anymore – 1 in 5 Americans who check email outside of business hours doing so in bed! They are either checking in bed first thing in the morning or the last thing they do at night before falling asleep.
Interesting gender note: Men are more likely to check email in bed compared to women – 21% compared to 16%
So, why do we do this to ourselves? Clearly we know we are doing it, but what keeps us chained to email? We’re more overwhelmed and under pressure than ever before. Many people (43%) said they checked email outside of business hours in order to ease their workload and not feel so overwhelmed while in the office. Another quarter of the people surveyed said they check email outside of work hours because they simply feel it’s expected of them.
