Thought Leadership in Action

There’s no doubt that the 21st-century workplace is rapidly evolving, thanks in large part to the innovations of mobile technology. With people virtually connected to their office from wherever they are, work often blends into after-hours life. But what happens when personal life seeps into the workplace? According to a study of 1,000 employees and employers from the U.S., Great Britain, Germany, France and Ireland by data protection firm Mozy, employees feel increasingly comfortable sending personal e-mails, running errands and leaving early for child-related activities or doctor appointments on company time.

What’s more, the survey found that managers are quickly accepting the fact that workers are doing these personal tasks during the work day. The reason bosses aren’t upset? It turns out, according to the survey results, that many employees are putting in hours outside the office to finish their work. Bottom line: the majority of managers are saying goodbye to the concept of traditional nine-to-five workers, resulting in employees who are “psychologically” present as they work because they know they have flexibility to attend to personal tasks as needed.

Flexible workplaces: The Wave of the Future

Approximately three-quarters of managers surveyed said they have no problem with employees arriving late for work because they are confident their employees have been working elsewhere, thanks to the advent of mobile technology, smartphone apps and cloud services. In fact, the Mozy study found that employers are giving a positive nod to flexible working hours at a rate that has even outpaced the expectations of employees.

“Workers around the world are making the most of the technology available to them to create more flexibility in their day for work and family,” Russ Stockdale, General Manager of Mozy, said in a press statement. “Hard work isn’t going unnoticed and mobile technology is having more of an impact on employer attitudes than people think.”

73% of managers said they trust their staff is working long before they get to the office. The majority said they were willing to tolerate workers being up to 32 minutes late and they also responded that they find it acceptable for an employee to spend up to a quarter of the week working from home.

In the U.S., 20% of employers have actively made it possible for employees to access their work on the go with email, network drives and applications, and front and back-office cloud services. A whopping 75% of employers surveyed now provide mobile tools to their employees to enable them to work wherever they are. However, the working-outside-the-office scenario isn’t perfect -- the survey found that only 11% of workers in the countries surveyed are currently able to connect with everything they can access in the office.

“We can see from the research findings that work has largely changed from ‘a place that you go’ to ‘a thing that you do,’” Stockdale said. “With only 20% of U.S. employees saying they can access all of their work tools remotely, there are still many employees who have not experienced this change. Cloud services that allow workers to remotely access their data wherever and whenever they want will allow them flexibility in their work processes and enable them to experience other work-life benefits.”

Work-Life Balance

The Mozy survey emphasizes the growing popularity of a blended approach to the work-life balance with employees not only beginning but ending their work days well beyond the traditional nine-to-five hours. The study revealed, for instance, that the average worker starts checking work email at 7:42 a.m., gets into the office at 8:18 a.m., leaves the office at 5:48 p.m. and doesn’t stop working completely until around 7:19 p.m.

While the majority of employers are granting employees more flexibility during regular work hours to attend to personal matters, many bosses also are expecting flexibility from their employees and are asking them to be available, if needed, outside of normal business hours. Although approximately 32% of American employers reported they still don’t feel comfortable calling employees after hours, despite the working hour flexibility they provide, another 15% of U.S. bosses said they are comfortable calling employees as late as 9 p.m. in the evening.

48% of managers in the U.S. stated they had no objections to employees taking lunches that run longer than the traditional lunch hour. They also support workers taking regular breaks at work to visit and chat with others in the workplace. 22% of U.S. employers participating in the survey noted they allow employees to carry out personal tasks including online banking, food shopping and paying bills while at their desks.

Over half of employees polled said they didn’t hesitate to leave work early for a doctor’s appointment and 21% said they feel comfortable taking time out to research vacations or do online shopping at their desk.

The top personal activities taking place at work, according to the Mozy survey, include:

• Leaving work early for doctor or dentist appointments
• Making personal phone calls
• Taking coffee and tea breaks
• Chatting with colleagues
• Sending personal emails
• Taking a long lunch to take care of personal tasks such as shopping
• Online banking
• Leaving work early for a child’s performance at school
• Paying personal bills
• Eating breakfast at work