The habits and opinions of Ireland’s workforce have been revealed in research carried out by Irish Life. The research found that 77 per cent of the Irish workforce believe they deserve more money for the job they do, while four in 10 people think that they could do a better job than their boss. The research was published to mark the launch of Irish Life EMPOWER, an improved workplace pension plan.
The research highlighted some amusing workplace truths for Irish people. Nearly a third of employees said that they have had an ‘office crush’ and over a fifth of respondents admitted to having an ‘office romance’ at some point in their careers.
Given the amount of time we spend in work, it’s not surprising that 61 per cent of the Irish working population have made ‘friends for life’ through work and 46 per cent socialise with their colleagues after work. On the other hand, one in three have pretended to be going a different way to avoid walking with a colleague.
One third of employees in Ireland appear to have trouble with achieving a work life balance and they regularly bring their work home with them in the evenings. 47 per cent of employees admitted to ‘dining al desko’, i.e. eating lunch at their desk, on a regular basis. Surprisingly, only 20 per cent of people feel that they are on the right career path in life, and employees believe that the appropriate number of jobs to have in the life span of your career is five.
Some further interesting facts about the Irish workforce were revealed:
Over half confirmed that their workplace has an ‘office gossip’
29% have ignored a Facebook friend request from someone they work with
Endearingly, 28% bring back a Toblerone from holidays to the office
Over a third of adults hit the snooze button at least twice before getting up for work, with women more prone to do this at 44%
34% of Irish people claim they have never missed a day at work
44% admit to having the ‘Fear’ on Sunday night ahead of going back to work on Monday
Almost half of us can’t start the day without a tea or coffee
A fifth of Irish employees think it is important to be in work before your boss and leave after them
