The comments from Geraldine Hetherington, chief operating officer of Hudson UK – regarding 16% of UK workers making contact with their workplace while on holiday this summer – miss the point (Personnel Today.com, 1 August). It is not about what organisations demand – it’s what the pace of business life and engagement in our organisation’s fortunes dictates.
Our research shows that 54% of people are willing to sacrifice more personal time to get promotion, and most agree that the internal drive for achievement is the number one reason motivating them to do so.
The study doesn’t say what level these people are at, but our experience suggests that they are likely to be leaders who ally the organisation’s cause closely with their own, and whose thirst for development is met by the stimulus of a demanding job.
This doesn’t make it right or even desirable, but it does mean that blaming the company is a feeble excuse for nipping off to phone your PA on the pretence of buying an ice-cream. These self-styled ‘workaholics’ are in control of their own destiny, and they often gain as much as they give in their working lives.
Lucy McGee
Marketing director
DDI UK
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