More Americans Take Their Work Home with Them

Despite a growing concern for work-life balance, more Americans are working well past the traditional eight-hour day.

take work home with themCareerBuilder.com, an employment services website, commissioned a survey of 3,244 full-time workers in the private sector across industries and company sizes to find how the traditional 9-to-5 workday is faring. Nearly three in five workers (59%) say it’s a thing of the past.

At least 45% of employees say they complete work outside of office hours. And checking email is even more prevalent, with 49% taping out responses on smartphones and other devices.

“While smartphones and other technology allow us to remain connected to the office outside of normal business hours, it may not always be a good thing as workers are having trouble disconnecting from their jobs,” says Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer for CareerBuilder. “Not surprisingly, younger workers ‘attached to their mobile devices’ are more likely to work and check emails past business hours, while older workers feel less pressure to check in after they have put in a full day.”

For example, workers 55 and older say they don’t keep working (60%) or check/respond to emails (54%) outside of office hours—higher percentages than found in any other age group. In contrast, 52% of workers between the ages of 18 and 24 say they don’t work after hours; 41% say they don’t check or answer work emails outside of the office.

The survey found men are more likely than women to work (49% vs. 42%) and respond to emails (54% vs. 43%) after hours.

Types of professions also make a difference. Those who work in information technology or sales are more likely to respond to emails after business hours—68% and 65%, respectively.

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