The study, Work fragmentation – how much is too much?, found that the traditional working day for Australian professional workers has permanently changed due to improved access to technology.
KPMG’s study identified four worker ‘groups’ defined by the amount of fragmentation in their lives. The traditional worker, described by KPMG as a ‘two worlds worker’ (67%) experienced low fragmentation and defined their working day by working standard hours and rarely worked outside those hours.
While that group dominated the survey respondents, there were also a number of workers (14.5%) who experienced moderate fragmentation by spreading their hours across the day to ensure they had the flexibility to fit other commitments around work. This group was described by KPMG as ‘distributed schedulers’ The third group, ‘frequent dividers’ (5.5%), experienced high fragmentation and worked in short bursts, merging work/personal and travel time. The gender divide between these groups was slight, with less than 10% difference in gender.
The final group, 'fully blended workers'(13%) had very little division between work and personal time and worked long hours. They are predominantly male (76%), under 35 years old (81%) and work full time (92%).
‘“Fully blended workers’ do not appear to realise the same benefits of work fragmentation as the other groups and are therefore highly stressed,” said KPMG partner, Margaret Cowle.
“While the other groups are able to make the best use of their time to complete their work, fully blended workers do not. They rate lower on other attributes of work fragmentation including time to relax, time to exercise, space to do things outside work, flexibility to manage personal/family responsibilities and good work-life balance. ‘Fully blended workers’ and ‘frequent dividers’ agreed that their current work-life mix had a negative impact on their overall health and well-being,” Ms Cowle added.
Some workers’ ability to work easily outside work hours had led to a change in what they consider work and leisure. This growing sub-culture needs to be addressed by organisations that can clearly see the business benefits of a fragmented workforce which include improved productivity and efficiency by workers who also expect they have the flexibility to manage personal responsibilities. However, not all workers feel the same and workplaces are more likely to be inhabited by workers who perform differently and/or at different times.
"This can create problems for employers and employees who have not put in place a work model that allows for different levels of fragmentation," said Ms Cowle who also pointed out the pitfalls of fragmented work. "’Frequent dividers’ are more likely to experience stress than workers with low to moderate fragmentation and organisations need to ensure they have different health and stress management strategies in place to ensure their employees have equal access to services."
KPMG's study Work fragmentation – how much is too much? also found that as workers' hours become more fragmented, managers' expectations of availability outside work hours increases. "Managers and employees may need to agree clear boundaries, particularly when work habits between workers are at different ends of the fragmentation spectrum. A 'two-worlds worker' may find it difficult to work easily with a 'fully blended worker' and insightful managers will create a work model that allows for each," said Ms Cowle.
KPMG identified a ‘sweet spot’ of maximum benefit and minimum negative impact for employees at moderate fragmentation levels, and a ‘tipping point’ where too much fragmentation pushes workers to overwork. “The ‘sweet spot’ will vary between organisations but is usually found within the space that lies between: technology that overturns traditional notions of time, distance and place, and, technology use that intrudes on personal time causing overwork,” said Ms Cowle.