Industrial Society research investigates the growing divide between those who love their work and those who don't

Citation

(2001), "Industrial Society research investigates the growing divide between those who love their work and those who don't", European Business Review, Vol. 13 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ebr.2001.05413bab.002

Industrial Society research investigates the growing divide between those who love their work and those who don't

Industrial Society research investigates the growing divide between those who love their work and those who don't

Keyword: Job satisfaction

Seventy per cent of high earners love their jobs

High earners love their jobs according to a new Industrial Society Futures report, which reveals that 70 per cent of those earning over £ 70,000 would carry on working even if they had enough money to live as comfortably as they liked. This group also say they feel as appreciated at work as at home.

One in three say work is the most important thing in their life

The report New Community or New Slavery? The Emotional Division of Labour (published 22 November 2000) examines the emerging divide between those who cannot walt to get to work and those who canot walt to leave. While big earners are the most positive about their work, 52 per cent of all workers would keep their jobs even if they came into money, and a third (30 per cent) say that work is the most important thing in their life.

Over half (58 per cent) of respondents feel equally appreciated at work and at home and another 12 per cent feel most appreciated at work. Women are more likely to feel appreciated at work. They are also more likely to meet their friends at work – 49 per cent of women compared to 19 per cent of men.

But clerical and secretarial staff disagree

For the willing workers' who find their jobs rewarding and enjoyable, the new riskier, individualised labour market is all good. On the other side of the coin are the "wage slaves" generally those in front line service jobs or in clerical and secretarial jobs. They find work dull and unsatisfactory.

Eighty-three per cent of secretaries or those doing clerical work say that a job is a job, but life is for living. Only 28 per cent of those in front line jobs agree that work is their primary source of self esteem, compared to 41 per cent of senior managers and directors.

Closing the divide – recognition, respect and sociable colleagues?

Judith Doyle, author of the report, says that employees' attitudes to work depend on more than their salary and promotional opportunities. "What makes the difference between a good job and a bad job are the intrinsic, emotional elements. People want a job that matches their skiils and abilities and where they find recognition and respect."

She says it makes sense for employers to focus more attention on encouraging sociability and healthy gossip. "Employers should give their staff more room to enjoy their work, and instead of seeing sociability at work as the antitheses to efficiency and productivity, they should see it as crucial to the bottom line.

"Gossip is the cement which holds organisations together. Providing communal space such as coffee areas or lunchroom, allows employees to share information, knowledge and build relations that benefits both company and the employee."

So who needs work-life balauce?

The evidence that so many people love their jobs is likely to fuel arguments that the current debate on work-life – with its home good, work bad overtones – is often over-simplistic.

Judith Doyle agrees: "There are three assumptions underpinning some of the work-life rhetoric which need to be interrogated. First that the divide between work and life is clear. Second that home or "life" is necessarily positive and third that work is a negative drain on our time and energy. It should be obvious that for some people home is a place of oppression while work is a place of liberation.

The barriers between work and home are corning down as more and more people/ind love, friends and a sense of community in their jobs, but that there is still too little acknowledgement of this from much of the work-lffe lobby."

For further press infomation, please contact Memuna Forna. Tel: +44 (0)20 7479 2111; Fax: +44 (0)20 7479 2401; Mobile: 07970 936187; E-mail: mforna@indsoc.co.uk