Mark Dixon
Over two thirds of Gulf employees will work during the New Year break this year, yet almost half believe very little will be achieved, a new survey has revealed.
Monitoring work trends, Regus, the world’s largest provider of flexible workplaces, asked over 12,000 business people in 85 countries about their intentions to work during the end of year holidays.
The survey reveals that although two thirds of business people will go to the office during the festive season, their levels of productivity are expected to be low, providing little value to their employers and wasting employees’ precious home and family time commuting.
One of the key findings is that 70% of Gulf business people will work during the end of year festive period and two thirds of Gulf respondents working over the break (66%) will travel to the office to do so.
A total of 46% of Gulf respondents believe that workers will get very little done in this work time and two fifths of Gulf business people (41%) think that staff working over the holidays mostly tend to use this time to catch up on unfinished tasks.
While observing that the holiday season is a special time for people to devote to their families and friends without neglecting their work duties, Regus CEO, Mark Dixon,  said many people are not taking full advantage of the break and, if they are also travelling to the office to work, are unnecessarily squandering precious time with their loved ones.
He noted that as the developed world faces economic difficulties and rapidly developing countries deal with the challenge of sustainable growth, businesses are under enormous pressure to keep a full head of steam, so it is not surprising that workers use this time to catch up on unfinished work.
“But are workers choosing to power through the break really producing the best value for their efforts?” he asked.
Dixon pointed out that with the holiday season approaching, businesses are ever more focused on how to achieve or improve the work/life balance they offer so that workers can spend time with their loved ones.