At the watercooler: Longer hours, car accidents and frequent fliers

Posted 8:37AM on Thursday 9th May 2002 ( 23 years ago )

Longer hours: It doesn't just feel you're putting in more hours at the office. You really are, according to a survey recently conducted by the world's largest recruiter. Of the 1,742 managers and professionals polled by Management Recruiters International, nearly two-thirds work late three to five days a week, and almost a third are working late at least once or twice a week, "While managers typically work long hours, recent layoffs have greatly added to their workloads," said Allen Salikof, president and chief executive MRI, a subsidiary of specialized staffing and outsourcing leader CDI Corp. "They are feeling the pressure to meet the growing demand of not only getting their own jobs done, but those of laid-off colleagues as well." The MRI survey reported that 27.8 percent of those polled work late five days a week on average, 35.4 percent work late three-four days on average, and 32.2 percent one-two days. Just 4.6 percent said that they never work late. The survey also showed that 32.6 percent of American workers put in one extra hour when they do work late, 43 percent work two extra hours, 12.6 percent put in three extra hours, 3.7 percent fours hours and 4.5 percent work late more than four hours. Close to home: Home may be where the heart is, and it's one of the most likely places for car crashes to occur, too. A survey by Progressive Insurance, one of the largest auto insurance companies in the country, found that 52 percent of reported crashes occurred five miles or less from home and 77 percent occurred fifteen miles or less from home. The information isn't typically gathered by law enforcement or insurance companies, but Progressive asked more than 11,000 people who reported a crash in 2001, how far from home they were when their accident occurred. The company said it found that: -Twenty-three percent of reported accidents occurred within one mile of home. -Accidents were more than twice as likely to take place a mile from home compared to 20 miles from home. -Only 1 percent of reported accidents took place 50 miles from home. -The region with the highest percentage of reported accidents occurring less than five miles from home was the Northeast, followed by the Midwest, West, Great Plains, Gulf, and Mid-Atlantic. -The region with the highest percentage (21 percent) of reported accidents that occurred 21 miles or more from home was the Great Plains; the Northeast had the lowest percentage (14 percent). Rewards: Many Americans - about one in four - aren't easily swayed by the lure of accumulating frequent flyer miles or other types of reward points when deciding whether to use a credit card or pay by cash or check. According to a nationwide telephone survey of 1,000 people by the Cambridge Consumer Credit Index, only about one in four consumers said reward programs have a great deal or good amount of influence in encouraging them to charge purchases on credit cards instead of pay cash. Two out of three consumers don't even have credit cards offering rewards points or rebates.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/5/194880