UK office workers want flexible lifestyle

Citation

(1998), "UK office workers want flexible lifestyle", Facilities, Vol. 16 No. 3/4. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.1998.06916cab.010

UK office workers want flexible lifestyle

UK office workers want flexible lifestyle

The French may be looking forward to working a 35-hour week by law, but their UK counterparts are still constricted by long working hours, office politics and are under increasing pressure to get things done ­ demotivating staff and blurring the distinction between work and private life, new research reveals.

Nearly half (42 per cent) of the UK's nine million office workers would forgo traditional perks such as company cars and private healthcare for job security and a quarter (25 per cent) cited flexible working hours as the most important motivational factor in a job. However, 52 per cent were adamant that the companionship of their colleagues is the best thing about office life.

The second annual nationwide "office life" survey of over 2,000 workers, was commissioned by Paragon Business Furniture to help it develop new product design through greater understanding of the office environment and working practices.

Cary Cooper, Professor of Organizational Psychology at the Manchester School of Management, said: "As colleagues compete with colleagues for their jobs, office politics is playing an increasing role in promoting job insecurity and stress. No wonder 37 per cent of those surveyed said they kept Aspirin in their desk drawers".

The survey was carried out by ICM Research in July 1997, and 2,090 office workers, from office executives to directors, across Britain were interviewed. They were employed in information technology, financial services, manufacturing, media, sales and marketing, service industries and the public sector.