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World – Executives working fewer hours but are constantly on-call

24 July 2014

Senior-level executives place the highest value on flexible work schedules as they adjust to the 24/7 work week, according to the 2014 Work-Life Balance survey from online career management service BlueSteps.

While modern senior-level executives are working more hours and across more locations now more than in the past, over half (52%) are satisfied or very satisfied with their work-life balance. In comparison, four years ago 55% of senior-level executives did not believe their current work-life balance was satisfactory.

Peter Felix, President of the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), of which BlueSteps is a service, commented: “The results of our most recent work-life balance study are encouraging. Senior executives are clearly working out how to balance the extreme demands that globalisation and 24/7 accessibility can make upon them. Technology, while creating this accessibility, has also provided a form of liberation from the traditional work place environments and the constraints on personal freedom that they can create.”

“With generational changes, corporations are also learning that they must make adjustments to the demands that they place on their senior executives and other members of staff. The financial services world is currently publicly making such adjustments to the working lives of their interns and young recruits. Working smarter rather than harder makes real sense in the hugely different world of management that we all experience today,” he added.  

Executives have experienced a decrease in the amount of leisure and personal time, predominately as a result of increased globalisation and mobile technology, which requires many of them to be available outwith their normal working hours. The majority of executives (97%) are contactable when they are on holiday.

Global executives work on average 58.5 hours per week, with 39% working more than 60 hours per week. Just under half (49%) of executives responded that they would consider refusing a promotion or a new job offer if it would negatively affect their preferred work-life balance. Four-out-of-10 (37%) of executives think that their work-life balance is so important that they would consider accepting a pay-cut in order to work fewer hours.