New Work Trend: As baby boomers extend their careers, and Generation Z workers launch theirs, we’ve arrived at four-generation workforce.
Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, Millennials and Gen Zers each have their own perceptions of work and personal time – both at the office and when they travel for business. But across all four groups, there’s a clear trend: That elusive goal of “work-life balance” is giving way to a more fluid “work-life blending” that better fits the dynamic schedule of the modern worker.
Work and Play
According to the National Car Rental State of Business Travel Survey, 65% of people believe it’s an unrealistic goal to keep work and leisure separate. Instead, more than half of respondents are now blending work life and personal life. The survey found most business travellers engage in some form of bleisure travel, including incorporating leisure activities into business travel, extending business travel into leisure trips and booking a holiday around a business trip.
Millennials are more likely to have done bleisure travel than Gen Xers and Baby Boomers. In addition, senior/executive leaders are almost twice as likely to extend their business trip into leisure travel or book a holiday around their business trip than non-managers.
When travelling for business, workers who engage in bleisure travel report better quality of life while on the road than non-bleisure travellers. They also report such additional benefits as following a healthy diet, exercising and coming back feeling invigorated.
Seventy-nine percent of bleisure travellers are more likely to volunteer for a business trip if they know they can extend their stay, and fewer people felt the need to downplay their leisure activities to their boss or their coworkers.
Importantly, the majority of bleisure travellers believe business travel contributes to their career success and helps them build key relationships they otherwise couldn’t without business travel.
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Editor for Silver Magazine Gold Coast
