Print

Mail

wiki links

A nation of workaholics worry about their health

The Taiwanese are a nation of workaholics, working 2,282 hours a year, or 6.25 hours per day all year round without counting days off, resulting in a whopping 84 percent of them claiming that long hours have negatively affected their health or quality of life.

This is one of the findings by Winner magazine and 1111 Job Bank, which jointly surveyed 1,654 people between Nov. 22 and Monday with a margin of error of 2.4 percent. The results were released yesterday.

Previous surveys have found that 57 percent of Taiwanese workers fear death from overwork, that 35 percent of white-collar workers regularly stay late at the office, that high-tech workers have low quality of life in spite of higher incomes and that 80 percent of the workers would be willing to accept temporary employment, as temporary staffing has become a trend among local businesses.

EXTRA NOW ROUTINE

In the latest survey, more than 70 percent of respondents said they work an average of more than eight hours per day, meaning the extra hours have become routine, with many people enjoying fewer holidays than legally allowed.

Forty-one percent of respondents said they are concerned about the negative impact of long work hours on their health, 24 percent worry that they are losing their leisure time and 19 percent worry that they are enjoying less time with their families.

UNDERSTAFFED

As to why they cannot complete their work even with extra hours and days, 26 percent each said their companies are under-staffed and that they simply do not know how to tackle a host of the issues that confront them.

These two complaints were followed by "colleagues not being cooperative enough" (18 percent) and "executives demanding too much from them" (13 percent).

In order to surmount the time pressure at work and increase efficiency, 71 percent of workers are coming to rely more and more on the latest gadgets, such as notebook computers and personal digital assistants (PDA) to help improve their time management.

The most popular device is the notebook, with 48 percent of respondents using them, followed by traditional notebooks, used by 22 percent, and PDA cellphones, adopted by 17 percent.
This story has been viewed 2110 times.