SME staff work during holidays

Nearly a third of staff at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMES) in Scotland will be working at least once a day in their 2019 summer holidays, according to new research from Process Bliss.

The process management firm has urged such companies to put in place better systems to stop people having to work while away after finding that 30.8 per cent of employees are working either every day (27.7 per cent) or many times a day (3.1 per cent). Overall, 61.5 per cent will spend some time working during their summer holidays.

The main way to stay in touch was via email, while 31 per cent of Scottish SME employees believe their clients expect them to be available during their summer holiday and 29 per cent say their boss expects them to be on hand – less than the Uk-wide figures of 45 per cent and 41 per cent respectively.

Process Bliss chief executive Alister Esam said working patterns have evolved, and in 2019 “people don’t all feel the need for a complete break”.

He added: “That said, many people still want and deserve a complete break from work, and if they are working because they don’t trust others to get work done or that they believe things will be missed without them, then that is unacceptable and needs to be addressed.”

The main reasons given for Scottish SME employees working during their summer holidays included not being able to relax properly without knowing things are being done (four in ten); feeling they are the only ones who can do their job (15 per cent); and not trusting colleagues to keep everything in order (a tenth).

Esam added: “SMES in Scotland must put in place better training programmes to ensure people can take a full break, or establish proper processes for tasks and roles – so others in the organisation can follow those and ensure everything gets done as it should do.”