A survey of 670 white-collar employees in 14 major North American cities found that working men are far more chipper than their female colleagues for old and new reasons!
Men are happier at work partly because they’re far more likely than women to take breaks for everything from a smoke to sex to lunch to a walk.
Work-life balance remains harder for women because they shoulder far more of the laundry, child care, grocery shopping, cleaning and cooking, digital media company Captivate Network reported.
But men are 25 per cent more likely to take breaks — for sex, a smoke, a walk, exercise or lunch — throughout the day than women.
Sex or a smoke during working hours was 11 percentage points more likely for men than for women, the survey found.
Women were far more likely to complain of headaches, stress, tension and weight gain in the struggle to balance work and life, the survey said.
Fifty-four per cent of women, compared with 43 per cent of men, reported headaches and 44 per cent reported muscle tension and weight gain (compared to 34 per cent and 37 per cent, respectively, for men) because of work-life stress.
A sign, perhaps, that men more so than women take time during their work day “just to relax,” the survey said.
Other signs, said Captivate Network president Mike DiFranza:
• 93 per cent of happy people take vacations, far more than the 79 per cent of unhappy people.
• 66 per cent of happy people make a weekly to-do list, compared with 57 per cent of unhappy people.
• 89 per cent of happy people “leave work at a reasonable hour,” compared with 49 per cent of unhappy people.
• 68 per cent of happy people take breaks, compared with 41 per cent of unhappy people.
Portrait of a happy worker: male, 39, married, senior management, one young child, wife who works part-time, $150,000 to $200,000 household income.
Portrait of an unhappy worker: female, 42, unmarried, professional, household income under $100,000.
Overall, women are 33 per cent unhappier at work than men!
Do you agree? Are you unhappy at work? What would it take to turn your frown upside down?
1 Comment User Comments
Add a commentRainbowRay
September 14, 2011
11:52 am
I don’t know if that’s all true or not, but if it is, then maybe a division of the workloads would help (if the men are willing to chip in and sop letting the load be arried by the women; if that is the problem). Maybe then women would be happier at work or am I wrong? If that really is the problem then I think the “load” they are complaining about should be distribued more or am I wrong? Justn a thought and an opinion.
RainbowRay