A balancing act: How research businesses approach work-life balance

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It is 9pm, and your phone lights up. An urgent email has come through from the Singapore office, and your immediate help is requested. Should you answer that email? Or should your company in fact have prevented it from being sent in the first place?

Work-life balance is a frequently used term in market research and beyond. And yet it means very different things to different people. It can range from time off for caring duties or a family emergency and hybrid or flexible working, to the opportunity to work in another country. It can be as basic as the ability to ignore emails after a certain time of day, or it could involve a more complex arrangement such as taking a year-long sabbatical to study or travel.

Does the market research industry do enough to promote a healthy work/life balance? In research for Impact, Hall & Partners surveyed 29 market research employees and found that 21 felt their company ...