MaineBusiness.com

Staples' Survey Reveals Our Work Habits

Staples just released the results of a telephone poll of US businesses with less than 20 employees. That's me. It's probably you.

The poll-takers quizzed small business owners on their work habits. Here's the basic findings:

"For most of the managers surveyed, the standard 40-hour work week does not apply." (no kidding)

"Nearly two-thirds (62 percent) work well beyond a 40-hour week, and one in five (21 percent) work a double week, logging an extra 40 or more on-the-job hours. Those surveyed site business growth (9 percent) added responsibility (7 percent) and "trying to keep up" (5 percent) for their heavy workloads. Some managers have compensated for these increased work demands by letting work trespass into once-sacred personal time."

I knew that we worked a lot. My January 8 entry noted the survey (again, businesses with fewer than 20 employees) that found over half 'sleepwork'. Talk about working overtime.

Most of us work these long hours, in-part because we love what we do. The other reason is because we don't know any other way to build our business. It's not until you stop and take a breather that you notice just how much we are sacrificing other parts of our lives to our businesses. About a fifth of the people polled said they worked during dinner four or five nights a week. Half said they cut back on family time to work more.

This concerns for a couple of reasons:
1) We feel if we aren't doing something, we're not being productive. However, we actually need time away from work to do better at work. Study after study says that if you're rested you work better and have a better attitude. Think of all the money and effort invested in improving the quality of our products, services, staff, policies, procedures, etc. What have you invested on improving the quality of your midset? We spend so much focus on re-engineering our business but almost nothing on reengineering ourselves, the one's who actually make things work... or not.

2) We have friends and family and important people that we don't see during work yet who are vital to our well being. Those relationships can help us through tough times, as I've talked about before. Strong relationships, like successful businesses, don't happen by themselves. We have to do our part and make the investment required to keep them strong.

Some time in the next couple of days, stop for a minute. Think about how you spend your time. If it's not the way you want to be spending it plan to do something different. Then be BOLD and do it.

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