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“Tripharbour.ca survey finds 82 per cent of Canadians feel work-related stress is negatively impacting their health”

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Today, we released the results of our first-ever Tripharbour.ca/ Ipsos-Reid survey of Canadians, regarding work life balance. The results are frankly shocking:

Today’s fast-paced ‘connected’ society makes it near impossible for Canadians to ‘power-down’ and take time for themselves. A recent survey by Tripharbour.ca and Ipsos Reid of full-time working Canadians found that one in five are ‘always connected’ to work. In fact, our addiction to work has become so toxic that 82 per cent of Canadians feel that work-related stress is negatively impacting their health.

The survey goes on to find:

While eight in 10 Canadians claim that they work to live and prefer to leave work at work, the fact remains that 21 per cent of us are accessible 24/7 - unable to shrug off the electronic tether. That being said, men appear to go overboard (ahem) more than women - who are more likely to power down
right at 5:00 p.m. (51 per cent versus 37 per cent). Not surprisingly, far more guys also keep an eye on the flashing LED of their BlackBerry while sipping cocktails poolside; 23 per cent admit to keeping their devices on while on vacation. So what gives? As expected, 36 per cent of Canadians say they struggle to balance their work and personal lives.

The release itself goes into a lot of detail about how people in different parts of the country responded. Interestingly, Albertans are the most likely to remain connected with work while on vacation. Whereas people in Saskatchewan and Manitoba are least likely to feel stress negatively impacts them. I wonder why?

I’ll admit that work/life balance has been a frequent challenge for me, and when my BlackBerry died for a week a week ago I felt like I was lost. How about you?