Working on the Weekend? Welcome to the Media Industry

Media and entertainment executives are more likely to work outside regular business hours than professionals in most other industries -- and they’re more likely to be single. That’s according to a global survey by Accenture about work/life balance issues.

The survey found that about 37% of M&E executives said they frequently work on holidays and weekends. That was higher than in any of the 26 other industry sectors Accenture surveyed. More than a quarter (28%) of media and entertainment professionals said they frequently do work while on paid time off (i.e., vacation), with only executives in the medical products industry claiming a higher rate, at 33%. Meanwhile, 31% of M&E types said they don’t have a significant other in their lives -- also the highest response rate among the sectors represented in the survey. Interestingly, however, just 39% of media and entertainment industry execs consider themselves workaholics, which was in line with the average of 40% across all sectors.