Friday 14 November 2003
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.