It might not come as any surprise to anyone with their email account connected to a smartphone, but Australians are finding it increasingly hard to switch off after work. While the problem has increased across all states and genders, there are some fields of work that are more susceptible.
The last time this figure was measured was 2012, when Roy Morgan Research found that 3.8 million Australians (or 34.5% of workers) were having trouble switching off after work. This has now risen to 4.3 million people, or 38.3% of workers.
Not surprisingly, workers in certain industries are more likely to have difficulty switching off, with those employed in Construction (48.0%) and Property and Business Services (45.8%) topping the list. In contrast, those employed in Mining (28.1%) and Retail (30.8%) are far less susceptible to this problem.
Of course, those in management positions were very likely to have a hard time switching off, with most of the fields in that category presenting figures of over 50%.
“Roy Morgan data shows that workers who have problems switching off outside of business hours are markedly more likely than the average worker to ‘need to be contactable at all times for work’”, says Michele Levine, CEO of Roy Morgan research. “And to feel they need a mobile phone to help them juggle their work and personal life. What’s more, an above-average proportion of them admit that they can’t live without a mobile phone.”
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