British Workers Reject Job Descriptions
New research by MORI for Microsoft has shown that eight in 10 GB workers (79%) reject the traditional blue collar/white collar job descriptions, preferring to define themselves by specialist skills and job functions instead.
Two-thirds of workers (64%) see themselves as 'professional', 'skilled' or 'managerial', whilst 13% see themselves as 'semi-skilled' or 'unskilled'.
Nearly a third (29%) view the availability of appropriate technology as a barrier to changing working practices, whilst more than four in 10 (42%) see company policy as a significant barrier.
The research also reveals nearly half (47%) agree that in the future, technology will free up their time to do many more enjoyable things. Over half of workers (52%) also want to be able to control their hours in the future by only working when appropriate, as opposed to working the traditional five-day week. Three-quarters of workers (75%) want a four-day working week.
Technical details
A nationally representative quota sample of 1,001 respondents, aged 16+ were interviewed across Great Britain on the MORI Omnibus. Interviews were carried out using CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing), using random digit dialling between 19-21 September 2003. Data have been weighted to reflect the known national population profile.
