In a new survey, Polish workers answered questions relating to how much they worked during the week on average, with 54 percent of respondents stating that they worked five days a week, 6 percent said they worked six days and 5 percent declaring that the number of days was not static and depended on the month and timetable.
Another 4 percent claimed that they worked seven days a week.
“Anyone can have a period of intensified professional activity. Yet, if someone constantly works seven days a week, then they begin to differentiate professional time from private time and particular weekdays. At that point it is worth considering whether someone is not dealing with workaholism,” said psychologist Michał Murgrabia, a co-author of the report prepared by UCE Research and SYNO Poland for portal ePsycholodzy.pl.
The higher the education level of a person, the more often they declared that they worked five days per week on average. Only 14 percent of people with basic education said they worked five days per week, as did 40 percent with essential education, 47 percent with secondary education, and 64 percent with higher education.
According to report, people with lower education less often undertook full-time jobs due to difficulties with adjusting their skills to the needs of the job market. Meanwhile, a higher education gives more possibilities when it came to full-time employment.
Sixty-three percent of Poles stated that they spent between seven to eight hours per day on work, and 13 percent declared that they worked between nine to ten hours and 10 percent said they worked four to six hours per day. Eight percent claimed they worked over 10 hours. In total, that means that 21 percent of Poles work more than eight hours, according to the survey.
The psychologist Murgrabia explained that the source of Poles working longer than eight hours a day can be found in Poles’ high work aspirations and the desire to earn more money. Perfectionism and excessive desire for promotion are also among the reasons for higher work hours. He says that longer working hours may be a kind of escape from problems in other areas of life.
The report was conducted between Oct. 29 and Nov. 2 using the CAWI method on 804 professionally active Poles aged between 18 and 80 years.
