A survey run by reed.co.uk suggests British workers are already worrying about the week ahead on Sunday afternoon. Unfinished tasks from the previous week, a nightmare commute and unbearable colleagues are the top three reasons for anxiety dubbed by the company as the “Sunday night fear”.
The survey took in 2,000 UK workers, and effectively shows most people lose almost an entire day thinking about the week ahead rather than switching off and enjoying the whole weekend. If the average person wakes at 9am on Sunday, they only enjoy four hours of time not spent worrying about their job. In addition to this, the survey also found one in five UK workers confessed they would ‘remove’ a particular colleague when asked for one thing they would change in their job.
Of those surveyed, 97 per cent cited job satisfaction as an important factor to loving Mondays while the research also revealed estate agents were the most satisfied with their jobs, along with those who work in creative industries. Public sector workers came out as the least satisfied with their roles.
Flexible working was identified by 28 per cent of workers as the most important factor towards helping them enjoy Mondays again, followed by working from home (23 per cent) and having great colleagues (21 per cent).
“For some, planning for the working week ahead can go a long way to improving the feeling of preparedness for Monday morning,” said Mark Rhodes, marketing director at reed.co.uk, “But this shouldn’t come at the expense of enjoying the time off you are entitled to. Whether it’s colleagues, commutes or unfinished tasks dragging you down, no one should feel recurring anxiety over returning to work. If you find yourself really dreading returning to work on Monday, it may be time to consider a new role.
“Loving your job means something different to everyone, so really focus on what matters to you: whether it’s flexible working, achieving that long-awaited promotion, stepping up a pay grade, or simply working with colleagues who are pleasant and co-operative,” he continued. “If you can’t see it happening in your current role it might be time to make a change and banish the Sunday night fear once and for all.”
