What would you do with an extra three hours a day?
The research reveals that full-time working parents are so time-poor that they only manage to spend less than three quarters of an hour (42 mins) a day with their families, during the week, with the household chores and commute to work taking up most of their valuable free time.
In fact, one in twenty parents admit to not having any time during the working week to spend quality time with their children.
In addition to the average eight and a half hours spent at work, housework such as cleaning, cooking and washing is the number one drain on parents’ time – taking around an hour and a half each day, and the average commute lasting 44 minutes a day.
We want to help make our customers lives easier and although we can’t create an extra three hours in the day we are changing to meet the needs of modern day life
The key to clawing back valuable time for over half (59 per cent) of UK parents seems to be multi-tasking either while at home, work or commuting between the two.
Stewart Fox-Mills, Head of Marketing at the Post Office, said: “Our research showed that there really aren’t enough hours in the day for many people, with time-poor parents trying to create some extra time by multi-tasking throughout the day.”
While at work parents say they make personal calls, manage finances or take the chance to shop online. Almost one in ten people (eight per cent) said they use their daily commute to catch up with much needed sleep.
Once home, nearly a third (30 per cent) of parents put their relationships under fire by texting or talking on the phone whilst spending quality time with their partners, family and friends in order to make up for lost time. And when they do get the chance to relax and watch TV two fifths admit they text and talk on the phone at the same time.
When asked what would help make life easier a quarter of busy parents said they would like financial institutions and retailers to be open longer to allow them to pay their bills and do their shopping.
Stewart added: “We want to help make our customers lives easier and although we can’t create an extra three hours in the day we are changing to meet the needs of modern day life. Our customers have told us they’d like their Post Offices to be open longer and to have easier access to online services, and this is exactly what we’re doing.”
The Post Office is currently undertaking a multi-million investment programme in its branch network. With over 6000 branches being modernised over the next three years, many of these branches will offer substantially longer opening hours, including Saturday and Sunday opening.
What would you do with an extra three hours a day? Tell us in the comments below or tweet us @FemaleFirst_UK
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