Survey Reveals Tens of Millions of 'White Collar' Workers Play 'Casual' Video Games at Work
KANSAS CITY (PRNewswire), September 9, 2007 - PopCap Games, the leading developer and publisher of casual games, has unveiled the results of a survey targeting "white collar" workers who play casual video games.
While white collar workers' consumption of casual games at home mirrored the overall casual gamer audience fairly closely, the survey revealed some surprising facts about the playing of casual games in the workplace -- and the motives behind the activity.
Among the 7,102 consumers who answered the survey, 40% were identified as "white collar" workers. With conservative estimates pegging the casual games market at over 200 million people, this representative sample suggests that as many as 80 million white collar workers play casual games. Of those white collar workers surveyed, nearly a quarter (24%) said they play "at work" -- with fully 35% of CEOs, CFOs and other senior executives saying they play at work.
"It's not surprising that today's business professionals are casual video game users," said Carly Drum, a recognized expert on workplace issues and Managing Director of Drum Associates, a leading executive recruitment firm. "The face of today's executive workforce is definitely changing: we're seeing employees who are much more technologically savvy and familiar with all forms of new media from social networking to blogging and beyond. So, it's natural that some business executives would also look to casual videogames that they can play on their PC, mobile phone or BlackBerry during a work break, as a way to quickly relax and recharge their batteries, so to speak."
The survey identified 2,842 of the respondents as white collar workers -- employed in management, executive management, sales, accounting, medical, technical, consulting or administrative capacities. Of all 2,842 white collar workers surveyed, 98% said they played casual games at home and 24% said they played during work hours. Of all white collar casual gamers, 65% indicated they earn $50,000 or more in annual income (compared to 53% of casual game players overall), 22% said they earned $100,000 or more per year, and 58% indicated they had a college degree (compared to 46%). 91% of white collar gamers are age 30 or older, 68% are 40 or older, and 39% are 50 or older.
Senior Executives Have More Fun
Of all white collar gamers who participated in the survey, 241 (slightly more than 8%) were identified as "senior executives" -- CEOs, CFOs, presidents and other C-level executives. Compared to white collar gamers overall, these senior executives indicated a considerably higher frequency of play.
Drum says that today's workers are very interested in employment that offers work-life balance -- and employers need to be sensitive to this. "It is a highly competitive job market and combating stress is a big part of maintaining a high level of productivity for all employees -- and providing a less stressful environment can equate to higher employee retention. Any way a worker can alleviate job stress through exercise, diet, increased sleep, or relaxing with a book or casual video game is a good thing."
Among all white collar gamers (not just those who play at work), when asked to choose the single most important reason for playing casual games, 72% chose a reason related to improving their mental state, while 24% chose "entertainment." As Cynthia Whitehead, a lawyer from Oakland, California, puts it, "After a long day of writing laws for formerly communist countries, the siren song of Bejeweled will beckon and I'll find myself unwinding with a few levels of gem-swapping."
Nearly half (48%) of respondents who said they play casual games at work indicated that they supervise other co-workers. Of those in supervisory roles, 79% said they encouraged their staff to take brief mental breaks during the workday, and 29% said that more than half of the employees who reported to them played casual games during the workday.
Fully 21% of all survey respondents said that at least some of their casual game playing occurs on their mobile device (cell phone, BlackBerry, Pocket PC, PDA, etc.). Of those who said they played on a mobile device, a whopping 68% said they had downloaded and purchased a game for their mobile device, roughly six times greater than the number for consumers overall.
Of all white collar workers who said they play casual games (not just those who play at work), 87% have been playing casual games for three years or more, and 58% have been playing for six years or more. In addition, 93% play at least once a week, 85% play twice a week or more, and 46% play every day. Three quarters (75%) said their casual gaming activities consume three or more hours of time per week.
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More Than Half of Hourly Workers Say Job Is Career
KANSAS CITY (PRNewswire), September 2, 2007 - While they may not be whistling while they work, a new survey of U.S. workers finds that most Americans are very happy in their jobs, with those who are living in the West, married, and Hispanic showing the highest incidence of workplace contentment.
The SnagAJob.com Labor Happiness Survey, commissioned by the nation's largest online source of hourly jobs and conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs, a leading, independent, global-market research firm, found that 61 percent of American workers are very happy in their current positions.
"On-the-job happiness is a telling barometer for the larger employment picture in a number of ways," said Shawn Boyer, president and CEO of SnagAJob.com. "Happy workers are, by and large, more productive, more committed and more likely to seek advancement within their current places of employment. At a time when the economy is giving us mixed signals, this worker happiness survey is an unambiguously positive indicator."
The happiest workers, by demographic sector, are living in the West (67% vs. 64% in the Midwest and 59% in the South and 52% in the Northeast), married (64% vs. 54% for those not married) and Hispanic (67% vs. 61% for whites and 51% for others).
In addition to gauging happiness levels, the survey also provided insights into a range of other worker attitudes toward their jobs. More than half of all hourly workers (56%), for example, consider their job as their full-time career, especially men (62%). As a whole, two in five hourly workers (39%) reported having a household income of $50,000 or more.
"While many Americans take hourly positions as their first jobs or to supplement their income, most hourly workers in the U.S. are unmistakably career oriented," Boyer said. "As this survey makes clear, hourly workers are not the stereotypical low-wage earners but, in fact, have great potential to make an attractive income."
According to the survey, more than half (61%) of the working population consider health insurance their most valuable benefit at work, followed by a retirement savings plan (19%) and paid-time off (11%). Interestingly, health care also was cited as the single most important issue facing the country (21%), with the war in Iraq (20%) and the economy (18%) close behind.
As for workers' outlook toward the future, they indicated overwhelming unease over large future expenses, such as retirement and children's education, with 44 percent of survey respondents ranking it as their primary concern. Health concerns and family, including how they will be cared for, tied for second at 17 percent each.
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Construction Jobs Booming but Workforce Still Lacks Women and African-Americans
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