Study: Being late isn’t as bad as it used to be

Make text smaller Make text larger

The strict 9am to 5pm work week is quickly becoming a thing of the past, as a new survey shows what we already know — we're all addicted to our BlackBerries making our work day start earlier and end later.

In a study of 1,000 US, British, German, French and Irish employees and employers, found that 73 percent of bosses have a relaxed attitude to time keeping, as they trust their staff are working long before they get to the office. The study, conducted by Mozy, a data protection provider, found that the average boss is willing to turn a blind eye to employees being up to 32 minutes late and let staff spend up to a quarter of the week working from home.

According to Mozy, the average person starts checking their work e-mail at 7:42am, gets into the office at 8:18am, leaves the office at 5:48pm and stops working fully at 7:19pm.

This has been driven by the growth in the use of mobile technology, said Mozy. Three quarters of employers now give mobile tools to their teams to empower them to get their work done wherever they are, and relaxed attitudes to working patterns move in correlation to the availability of mobile tools. However, just 11 percent of workers in the study are able to access everything on the move that they can in the office — meaning that there is still room for growth.

“The survey highlighted a blended approach to the work-life balance with workers starting and ending their working days well beyond the time spent in the office,” said Mozy. “However, they expect to be able to carry out more personal tasks during the working day and to extend their breaks to give them the freedom to enjoy social activities or complete chores.”

Make text smaller Make text larger

Take Our Poll