10h Sept 2009

More and more office workers are becoming pre-occupied with work issues outside of office hours. Work appears to be dominating people’s lives, thinking time and free time. Nearly two thirds admit to spending two hours per day thinking or talking about work related problems and issues during their own leisure time.

More and more office workers are becoming pre-occupied with work issues outside of office hours. Work appears to be dominating people’s lives, thinking time and free time. Nearly two thirds admit to spending two hours per day thinking or talking about work related problems and issues during their own leisure time.

The old clichéd question of are office workers ‘working to live or living to work’ is becoming more difficult to answer and more blurred than ever. People’s personal lives are being invaded by greater workloads and increasing work related stress.  A quarter claim to frequently dream about work and over half claim that work is the leading topic of discussion at home.

The lucky few, that’s less than one in ten, find they can leave their business worries at the office, while most people find they are inevitably reminded by something either brought up by friends or when reading a newspaper or watching a television programme.  Worrying about work after hours also leaves people with a negative mindset and one in five feel like they’ve never left the office.

Another symptom of a blurring between work life and personal life is the common Sunday evening depression. It still affects one in three feeling negative thoughts towards the impending week of work. Outstanding work problems are ranked as the main source of stress outside of working hours, worrying people late into the evening.

It’s not all bad news though, half of office workers spend a proportion of their leisure time thinking up new ideas and working through issues, making them feel better equipped for the next day or meeting. Four in every ten office workers also feel more relaxed and more organised having spent time contemplating any unfinished problems.

Here are four simple ways to work smarter and reduce the time spent worrying about work issues outside office hours:

• Before you leave the office, prepare a simple action list for the following work day
  
  
• Try to solve any outstanding problems before you sleep or atleast go some way to finding a solution
  
  
• Try and balance your personal and work life - consider a new interest, hobby, taking exercise or joining a new class
  
  
• Refresh your desk area – clear all clutter, file old paperwork and organise your filing so you feel in control of your immediate area

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