Randstad WorkMonitor Q4 2019: Work-Life Balance

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Randstad’s WorkMonitor report for Q4 2019 ^[1] was released in December 2019 with a look into work-life balance and the economic and financial outlook for 2020 and shows some interesting results. The survey covers trends across the globe in the mobility, job satisfaction, and motivation in 34 countries around the globe.

Work-Life Balance

Highlights of the report include the inevitability of technology creeping into our lives more and more:

• Workers have stated that 59% of them claim they respond immediately to work-related calls (including text messages and emails) outside working hours; Indian workers report the highest frequency with 92% while the Netherlands boasts the lowest figures at 38%;
• Nevertheless, 65% claim that they do in fact respond to work-related queries, however, they do this at a convenient time (China 89% and Chile 38%, representing the high and low);
• More than half of global respondents (56%) claim employers expect them to be available outside regular hours (with Portugal, Romania, Spain and Italy above the global average at 75%, 65%, 60%, and 59% respectively exhibiting above-average figures in Europe);
• This figure declines to 45% globally during holidays and personal time off;
• However, 75% of respondents stated that they are “able to let go of work easily” when on holiday.
• Interestingly enough, surveyed workers admitted that 67% of them would sometimes handle private matters during working hours – blurring the lines between personal life and work.

The future is bright?− Economic and Financial Outlook

When queried about financial outlook for the year ahead (2020):

• Over two-thirds of respondents globally, 70%, thought that 2020 would be a better year financially for their employer than 2019;
• And 57% viewed their national economic outlook to be better than 2019, with China and India leading at 89% each of respondents from those two countries. More developed economies like Italy, Spain, and Japan exhibited employees who were not confident of their national economic performance at 44%, 40%, and 26% respectively;
• Bonus expectations globally stood at just over half of respondents – with 56% expecting a bonus at the end of the fiscal year (the range was India with 90% and Japan at 23%);
• Nearly two-thirds also expected a pay raise at the end of the year (61%) – again, 94% of Indian respondents expect a raise, while only 30% of Japanese respondents expect the same for 2020;

Mobility: to move, or not to move?

Mobility among employees remained stable over the period – with no unexpected responses. However, employees from Luxembourg, Netherlands showed a +4- and +2-point increase in expected mobility, while in Belgium employees felt there would be less mobility when asked whether they will “be doing the same or comparable work within the next 6 months.”

In the Americas, the US stood at +2-points, and Mexico at +4, while in Canada this figure was -3.

Click here to access Randstad’s WorkMonitor report for Q4 2019 ^[1].