Survey highlights pressure on bosses

IRISH bosses in small and medium sized enterprises are working long hours, taking work home in the evenings and at weekends and missing important family events due to business demands, a new survey shows.

The survey by mobile phone firm O2 shows that the majority of bosses also exceed the maximum number of hours worked by employees each week.

The study found 60% of bosses work more than 41 hours a week which means they are clocking up more time than their employees. The average industrial employee worked an average 40 hours a week in 2004, according to the Central Statistics Office.

However, the O2 survey found that almost one in three (30%) owner managers work more than 51 hours a week, with a workaholic 13% clocking up over 61 hours a week.

O2 Ireland head of marketing, Paul Farrell said: “This is the second year of our survey which finds that Irish bosses in firms employing between 1 and 250 people have not slowed down but are working long hours to stay on top of their business.”

He said a significant 43% even miss out on important family occasions due to work pressures.

Some 59% of bosses take home work in the evenings with almost a quarter of these taking work home daily.

Some 83% say they have to work at weekends, while 62% of these do this more than once a month. A significant 42% never get the time to take their full entitlement to annual leave.