added august 4th 2010
Forward to a colleague Print this Article

Workers reject nine to five and thrive on email culture says report

Working nine to five is no longer the way to make a living according to a new report from Reed Specialist Recruitment commissioned to mark its 50th anniversary. While employees are embracing more flexible working patterns, many in the UK are still burning the candle at both ends and putting in over 10 hours a day at the office.

Almost half (48 per cent) say they can’t live without email, with the majority citing it as “the biggest transformation in the world of work during the last 50 years” – putting it above equality laws and the advent of mobile phones.

The report, which canvassed the views of 3,000 workers, charts key developments in employment since Reed was founded in 1960 and reveals the profile of today’s worker.

One in four of employees is at their desk by 7.30am and doesn’t get away until at least 6pm, with 40 per cent not even leaving their desks at lunchtime to get a proper break - the average break lasting just 33 minutes. And work doesn't end in the office, with most people completing 42 minutes ‘homework’ every night - the main reason given being that they simply have too much work to get done in the working day.

The research found that half of the UK's workforce (48 per cent) wants to spend more time working from home and four in ten (43 per cent) are keen to give up the traditional ‘nine to five’ in favour of less rigid working patterns, but more than a quarter (27 per cent) say they couldn’t face working without office banter.

Tom Lovell, group managing director of Reed Specialist, said: “The workplace has come a long way in the last 50 years, with both our research and our experience as a specialist recruiter demonstrating a trend towards a more connected and diverse working environment. 

“Advances in technology have led to significant changes in working life, enabling people to have more control over the shape of their careers and ending more traditional, restrictive approaches to working arrangements. While many would love to be able to work from home, there remains a significant proportion that prefers the social interaction gained from an office environment. The key is that today’s workforce wants the flexibility to choose the working environment that best suits their lifestyle and aspirations. Employers also really need to understand applicants’ motivations so that they can achieve cultural as well as skills fit when recruiting the best people.”

From typewriters and telephones in the 1960s to Blackberries and PDAs in the noughties, the report also shows how technology has acted as a catalyst for change in the workplace during the last 50 years.

The internet and email are now accepted as essential tools of the trade in most jobs, with male workers being particularly attached to their gadgets.  More than one in 10 men (11 per cent) said they couldn’t live without their Blackberry and more than a quarter said the same of their laptop.

Technology has also changed the way people look for jobs, with online job boards now being the most popular way to search for a job and one in five using social networking sites to find their next role.

Tom Lovell concludes: “While the fundamentals of using sector experience and recruitment expertise to match the best available talent to the right organisation have stayed the same in the 50 years that we have been in business,  the working environment and ‘tools of the trade’ have changed considerably.”

To download a copy of the 50th Anniversary report, open the '50 years at the forefront of recruitment' PDF above this story headline in the Reed Newsroom.  

ENDS

Media Contact

For further information please contact Kathy Doyle at McCann Erickson on 0121 713 3773 / katherine.doyle@europe.mccann.com

1.       Reed surveyed more than 3,000 employees across all sectors. Key finding include:

·         Developments in the Working World:

-          One in four employees (25 per cent) identified the introduction of email as the most significant development in their working life.

-          Unsurprisingly, a significant proportion of older workers saw the end of ‘jobs for life’ as the biggest development in their working life. Interestingly, younger workers also viewed the threat to job security as highly significant in their career so far.

-          Women have felt the impact of flexible working legislation more keenly than men, with 16 per cent of female employees viewing it as the biggest milestone in their working life.

-          Almost half of all respondents (48 per cent) said they couldn’t do their job without email and 45 per cent said they would be lost without the internet.

·         The 21st Century Working Environment:

-          More than a quarter (27 per cent) said they couldn’t face working without office banter.

-          However, for almost half of respondents (47 per cent) ‘office politics’ is the worst thing about being at work.

-          One in ten still can’t call their boss by their first name. 

-          Among the other top irritants were:

o        Management jargon

o        Volume of email

o        Too many meetings

o         A long commute

o        Not getting to meet people face to face

·         The Working Day:

-          One in four workers is at their desk by 7.30am and doesn’t get away until at least 6pm.

-          40 per cent of workers don’t leave their desk at lunchtime, with the average break lasting 33 minutes.

-          The average employee does 42 minutes ‘homework’ every night, with the main reason being that they simply have too much work to do.

·         Looking to the future:

-          Almost half of respondents (48 per cent) said they would like to spend more time working from home in the future.

-          They are also seeking greater flexibility, with 43 per cent wanting to give up the ‘nine to five’ in favour of less rigid working patterns.

2.       About Reed

• Reed Specialist Recruitment is part of Reed Global, which also includes Europe's biggest jobsite - reed.co.uk; one of the world's leading Welfare To Work providers - Reed In Partnership; and the UK's learning provider of the year - Reed Learning.
• Founded in 1960, Reed is a specialist provider of permanent, contract, temporary and outsourced recruitment solutions, and IT and HR consulting. Reed operates in Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific and has more than 3,000 permanent employees working out of 350 offices worldwide across 30 specialisms.
• reedglobal.com enables clients to interact with our recruitment services and jobseekers to search for opportunities across multiple industry sectors around the world. reed.co.uk receives over 1.5 million job applications per month.
• Reed is passionate about the environment, has an award-winning environmental programme and continues to maintain its Carbon Neutral (R) status and commitment to being Carbon Responsible.

Go to press releases