Meeting professionals struggle to separate their business and personal lives. In fact, just 17 percent set clear boundaries between the two and are largely off-duty when at home, according to the 129 respondents to an M&C Research survey.
Phone and e-mail are particularly invasive. Forty-three percent of planners check messages throughout all their waking hours, and another 10 percent do so in the middle of the night.
True sick days are largely a thing of the past. Only 8 percent ignore e-mail and voice mail when they're under the weather. And, while 46 percent of respondents are entitled to take 21 or more vacation/personal days per year, many of those days go unused. Just 22 percent of meeting planners take all of their allotted time off.
65% of planners catch up on paperwork over the weekend. Another 44 percent answer select e-mails, 40 percent answer most e-mails that require a response, 25 percent return phone calls and 19 percent make work-related phone calls.
31% do less than an hour of work during a typical weekend; 52 percent work up to five hours.
52% use driving time to make business calls; of those, 18 percent do so "very often."
5% of planners have answered work calls during an intimate moment with a significant other. For some other surprising times when you’re on duty, go to mcmag.com/webexclusives.