Overtime and work-life balance in Ecommerce

Overtime and work-life balance in ecommerce go hand in hand. The more ecommerce professionals do, the more their work-life balance is at risk.

Of course, some people enjoy overtime and making a difference in their team. However, professionals should want to go the extra mile and not feel like they must add hours onto their working week to impress.

So, using insights from our 2018 ecommerce salary survey & insights report, let’s find out how ecommerce professionals find their workloads!

Ecommerce working hours

What are the contracted working hours in ecommerce? It all starts here, as we find out if ecommerce professionals are working more contracted hours compared to 2017…

• 35 hours per week: 15% (12% in 2017)
• 37.5 hours per week: 46% (44% in 2017)
• 40 hours per week: 32% (35% in 2017)
• Other: 7% (9% in 2017)

While there hasn’t been a dramatic shift in contracted working hours, we can still see that there has been a decrease in professionals working 40 hours per week while more are working a 35-hour week.

In terms of the respondents who said other, one comment stood out – ‘Contracted working hours are irrelevant, I always do more.’ This introduces our focus on overtime perfectly…

How much overtime do ecommerce professionals do each week?

And there we have it! With 25% selecting it, an average of 2-3 hours of overtime a week is the norm for ecommerce professionals. Here’s what our 2017 respondents told us…

Once again, there haven’t been huge changes from 2017. However, there is still a shift that we can see. On average, 65% of respondents in 2018 do at least half an hour of overtime per week – this is a 5% decrease from 2017.

There has also been an increase of ecommerce professionals who don’t complete any overtime in the week at all. Much like the small changes with contracted working hours in ecommerce, are we seeing the industry shift towards being more people focussed despite the fast-paced nature of the ecommerce world?

Sentiment towards overtime

As we said earlier, some professionals do enjoy working overtime – though this isn’t true of everyone. There could be any number of reasons why ecommerce professionals must complete overtime; the workload is too demanding, there is currently a gap in the team, they struggle with motivation throughout the day or they feel they under pressure from management to go above and beyond.

65% of respondents said they don’t mind completing overtime, while 19% are unhappy about it. This leaves 8% who are happy and another 8% who specified ‘other.’ This got us thinking…is ‘I don’t mind’ good enough when it comes to workplace happiness? It’s almost as if professionals do overtime without thinking how it could affect their lives outside of work.

Overall, we haven’t seen a huge shift in sentiments towards overtime over the last 12 months. However, those who selected ‘other’ seem to focus on the negatives when it comes to overtime. While some comments show that extra work for special projects is fine, overtime in the long term has a negative effect.

Most of the sentiments seem to suggest that added effort is not recognised and has almost become ‘part of the job.’ With only 5% being paid for overtime, lack of renumeration and not feeling valued will begin to take its toll.

Are people happy with work-life balance in ecommerce?

As we can see, the majority of our respondents are happy with their work-life balance, while 20% are unhappy. This is a 2% increase from 2017 – while small, it shouldn’t be ignored that more ecommerce professionals are unhappy than the previous year. The number of respondents who are happy with their work-life balance has not changed from 2017.

Looking at work-life balance in more detail, we uncovered come interesting insights:

• In terms of seniority, ecommerce professionals at the junior to executive level are happiest with their work-life balance – 78% of respondents at this stage in their career said they were happy.
• 37% of respondents receive flexible working as a benefit – a 7% increase from 2017. It may not seem like a huge leap, but it’s good to see more is being done to accommodate ecommerce professionals.
• However, while 77% of those who receive flexible working are happy with work-life balance, this still leaves 23% who aren’t happy or aren’t sure how they feel. Perhaps flexible working doesn’t always make the difference.
• Many ecommerce professionals feel overtime has ‘become the norm’ – this could explain why there hasn’t been a change to the number of ecommerce professionals who are happy with their work-life balance. It suggests that more can be done to encourage a better work-life balance, be it by management or ecommerce professionals as individuals.

Are you overworking yourself?

Ecommerce is a busy industry, but it doesn’t mean you have to burn yourself out to achieve big things. Here at cranberry towers, we strive to find you the perfect role – to suit both your skills and your personal life! Find a new job with us or send us your CV!