The 2014 BlueSteps Work-Life Balance Report, just released by the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), discovered that while modern senior-level executives are working more hours and in more locations now than in the past, over half (52 percent) are satisfied or very satisfied with their work-life balance. 

Global executives work an average of 58.5 hours per week, with 39 percent working over 60 hours per week. In comparison, four years ago, 55 percent of senior-level executives did not believe their current work-life balance was satisfactory. The survey was conducted in April 2014 to July 2014 and received 571 responses from senior-level executives in manufacturing/industrial, technology/telecoms, professional services, financial services and other sectors worldwide. Additional findings of the report include: The majority (81 percent) of executives consider work-life balance when deciding on whether or not to accept a new position. Thirty-one percent of executives would refuse a promotion or new job offer if it negatively affected their preferred work-life balance ratio. Over one quarter (28 percent) of executives rate their work-life ratio as more important than their potential earnings.

Peter Felix, AESC & BlueSteps President, commented: “Senior executives are clearly working out how to balance the extreme demands that globalization and 24/7 accessibility can make upon them. Technology, while creating this accessibility, has also provided a form of liberation from the traditional work place environments and the constraints on personal freedom that they can create. With generational changes, corporations are also learning that they must make adjustments to the demands that they place on their senior executives and other members of staff. The financial services world is currently publicly making such adjustments to the working lives of their interns and young recruits. Working smarter rather than harder makes real sense in the hugely different world of management that we all experience today.”