Employees seek life after work - how are you doing?

With such a vibrant work force around us, it is but natural to wonder about the work-life balance in today's professionals and what contours the after-hours life actually takes. It was with this objective in mind that Knowience Insights commissioned an online survey to understand the after-hours behaviour of Indian working professionals. 

298 working professionals participated in the survey conducted in May 2010. 

1. 66% of the respondents were company employees, 24% self employed / consultants and 10% business owners. 
2. 53% of the respondents were in the 25-34 age group, 26% in the 19-24 years age group and 17% in the 35-44 years age group.
3. Almost 50% of the respondents were from 5 cities viz., Mumbai, Delhi - NCR region, Bangalore, Hyderabad / Secunderabad and Chennai. A significant % of the respondents came from Top 9-15 cities.
4. Information Technology (23%) and Manufacturing (11%) were the dominant industries to which the respondents belonged, followed by Entertainment / Media / Advertising, BPO and Financial Services. 
5. 30% of the respondents were married and living in a nuclear family whereas 25% were married and living in a joint family. A substantial 27% of the respondents were not married and living with parents / relatives.  

Some interesting insights emerged from the survey, conducted in May 2010.



Home is not where 75% of the working professionals head to straight after work
While 24.3% of the people went home straight after work, a substantial 14% went shopping, 13% went to a restaurant, 11% to a movie / play and 10% to friends' house. And 11% leave office to head to another meeting - official or unofficial!

Four out of the top five reasons to work late in office are 'not' money related
When asked what factor(s) would make them work late at night, the following came up as the top 5. 
1. A fulfulling job responsibility - 30%
2. Exciting project to work on - 16%
3. Extra money to work over-time - 13.5%
4. Colleagues one can bond with
5. A great boss

Two of the above reasons are 'core work' related, two 'work atmosphere' related and only one 'money' related. Something to think about for not just the HR Managers but also the CEO. 

61% of the professionals leave office early due to professional reasons
Personal work to attend to (28%) and distance to home (11%) are the primary personal reasons to leave office early. However, the reason why the other 61% leave office early is because of a variety of what can clearly be classified as 'professional' reasons. 'There's no work that can't wait until tomorrow' (13.5%) leads the pack followed by unexciting job responsibility (11.5%), dissatisfaction with salary (10.6%), general disinterest in work (8.2%) and a mean boss (6.2%).

65% are enjoying a fair work-life balance
The fact that 2/3rd of the people surveyed feel that their work and life are well balanced is the biggest positive emerging from the study. Interestingly, almost 7% of the remaining have less work to do and more life to enjoy. Don't we want to be in that 7%? 

Only 14% do not like their job
This is a surprising but positive insight from the individuals participating in the survey. While 36% 'love' their job, half of the respondents 'like their job but feel it could have been better'.  

This feedback from the working professionals brings the focus back on the topic of employee engagement and how little things like making work exciting or hiring right (colleagues one can bond with) or training the managers to be good bosses can make such a big difference.