Our Readers Take Proper Holidays

Despite fears that workers are increasingly tied to their jobs, an eWEEK Europe survey suggests that  more than a quarter do no email at all while on holiday, while others have their mobile working well under control.

During the summer months, surveys traditionally prove that British workers are tied to their jobs, and have to spend hours every day on email even while they are officially on holiday – even though every expert agrees this is a Bad Thing.  This summer we decided to ask our readers – and found that you are much more in control of your online activity.

No email while on holiday

By far the most popular answer to our poll, which asked “how much work (eg email) did you do while on holiday?”, was a simple one: “None”. The biggest chunk of our readers is unequivocal – 29 percent say when they are on holiday, they don’t do work.

The next most popular answer, was “What holiday?”. It seems that 23 percent of you are either too busy to have gone away this year, or are saving your leave days until later, perhaps in the hope of that elusive Indian summer.

Next up, 14 percent of you do half an hour or less of work per day while on holiday. It’s not a complete break, but in our book that at least shows a measure of control.

Aggregating the options, and removing those who haven’t had a holiday, we find that 66 percent of those who have had a break logged in less than once a day, while 34 percent did some work each day.

That strikes us as a clear victory for common sense – though we sympathise with those of you who decided it was worth keeping on top of things in order to return to a tidy inbox.

What business apps are on your tablets?

So, assuming you are all back at work, let’s find out how your working environment is changing. Tablets such as Apple’s iPad have been backed as business devices by analysts including Gartner, and the “iPad effect” has been blamed for HP’s announcement that it may get out of PCs altogether.

We want to get past the hype, so tell us what business apps your organisation is using on a tablet. Tick any that apply, and use the “Other” option to tell us if we have missed any.