Maintaining a balance between your personal and professional lives is the Holy Grail for many employees. However, workers often struggle to manage the boundaries between these two spheres. To remedy this, some would be willing to make significant concessions, according to a Ford survey.
Thus, 52% of employees interviewed for the purposes of this major survey* say that they would be willing to see their salary drop by 20% if it allowed them to relax at work and, therefore, have a better balance between their personal and professional lives.
It is interesting to note that this figure varies depending on nationalities and age groups. Nearly 70% of Thais say they would consider such an arrangement, compared to just 40% of Mexicans. Younger generations are also more likely than their elders to accept a pay cut in exchange for the guarantee that their professional obligations will not encroach on their private lives.
However, this does not mean that working people are not attached to their professional life. The overwhelming majority of respondents (80%) say they feel engaged in their current job. However, they are not ready to make all the sacrifices to advance their career: three-quarters of those surveyed think that it is not wise to pursue a job that contributes to making them more stressed on a daily basis.
And they’re not wrong. Specialists agree that stress has a considerable impact on the quality of life at work, but also on the economic performance of a company. It contributes to a deterioration in the mental health of employees, which has repercussions on the rate of absenteeism and staff turnover.
Organizations have understood this well and are increasingly taking care to put in place systems that promote a better balance between private and professional life, such as teleworking, unlimited leave or a four-day week. But, according to the respondents of this survey, companies would do well to look at artificial intelligence to ensure the well-being of their employees. Sixty percent of them believe that this technology will allow them, in the long term, to better manage their professional and personal obligations.
*The Ford Trends 2024 report was conducted among 16,086 employees from 16 countries, including France, the United States, Brazil and China. Data was collected between August 11 and September 1, 2023.
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