Time to give thanks to tradies: Aussie tradies reveal why they haven’t taken leave in two years
- New research reveals 64% of tradies are concerned about taking annual leave or holidays, as it disrupts business and jobs coming in
- Meanwhile, 45% of tradies admit to working nine or more hours a day, while 10% work more than 11 hours a day
7 November 2022, (Sydney, Australia) –
Australia’s largest online tradie marketplace, hipages, has today unveiled its ‘Tradie Wellbeing’ research, revealing one in four (26%) tradies didn’t take annual leave last year, or only took one week; while two in three (64%) are concerned about taking holidays, as it disrupts business and jobs coming in.
The research also looked more deeply into a typical tradie work day, including how many hours a day that they work and how often they take breaks. It revealed nearly half (45%) of tradies work nine or more hours a day, while one in 10 (10%) work longer than 11 hours. Meanwhile, 40% only take one break per day, with sole traders the hardest hit, and taking the least amount of time away from the tools.
To empower tradies to stop the cycle, hipages has teamed up with organisational psychologist and behavioural science expert, Dr Amantha Imber, to share the benefits of taking breaks on the mind and the bottom line.
Dr Amantha Imber, organisational psychologist, explains both the health and economic benefits of taking breaks:
“It’s easy to fall into the trap of not taking a break to try and fit more work into your hours, and we know tradies are very susceptible to this, whether they’re rushing to finish a project, behind on quoting, or catching up after weather events.
“Working yourself until you’re physically and mentally burnt out can have a huge business impact including making costly mistakes on the job or taking longer to complete jobs. Whether it’s a mini break during the work day, or a three to six day holiday, taking a break from the physical labour and the mental work can do wonders for your health, which will ultimately increase motivation and productivity once you return to work.”
Jason Charles, Owner of Charles Bros Building Contractors, recently took a break from the tools to recharge before the busy spring season:
“I love what I do, but when I’m pulling big hours it can leave me exhausted at the end of the week, and I can feel my productivity dwindling. To ensure I avoid burnout, I make sure to incorporate breaks on days I’m back to back, and when I book leave, I hand off all my live projects to make sure there’s no last minute stress and I’m not working on my break.
“I’ve just come back from a holiday that I’d been looking forward to and I can already feel it’s made a huge difference to my morale now that I’m back onsite, and my clients and colleagues are noticing an improvement in my work.”
Stuart Tucker, hipages Chief Customer Officer, shares his gratitude for Aussie tradies and the amazing work they do:
“As the leading tradie marketplace, hipages cares for our tradie community. We know that right now, a number of tradie businesses are worried about taking breaks, either because they are struggling to secure ongoing work, or their pipeline is jam packed – and we’re here for them.
“We have designed our platform to improve productivity, give back time and provide tradies with the opportunity to make more worthwhile life moments. By enabling tradies to choose the right type of work based on their business preferences, and speeding up the process to quote and secure leads, they can use hipages to create a healthy pipeline of work – allowing them to take a break with the confidence that they can pick up where they left off.”
Whether it’s an extra half hour in their day or time for a holiday, hipages makes it easy for trusted tradies to take a step away from the tools, by ensuring the job leads will be there when they return. For tradies planning a longer break, they can also pause their hipages membership until their return.
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For all media enquiries please contact
hipages@wearedifferentpr.com.au
About the research
Commissioned by hipages in conjunction with Thrive Insights, the research was conducted online in May 2022. Findings are based on a nationally representative sample of 512 Australian tradie business owners / directors or decision makers aged 18+ years.
About hipages
With one job posted every 20 seconds on average, hipages is Australia’s largest online tradie marketplace that connects Australians with trusted tradies to simplify home improvement. As the leader in the On-Demand Tradie Economy, based on jobs posted, our aim is to create a seamless experience for both tradies and homeowners. For homeowners, hipages provides a better, smarter way to connect with local tradies to get the job done well. For tradies, the platform helps them grow their business by providing quality leads from their customers looking for a specific trade. To date, over three million Australians have changed the way they find, hire and manage trusted tradies with hipages, ultimately providing more work to the 31,000-plus tradies subscribed to the platform. The hipages app is available for download on the App Store and Google Play. www.hipages.com.au