According to a survey from Reed Specialist Recruitment, almost half (48%) of the employees polled said 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% 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%) wants to spend more time working from home and four in 10 (43%) are keen to give up the traditional ‘nine to five’ in favour of less rigid working patterns, but more than a quarter (27%) said 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 past 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."
The report also reveals one in 10 men (11%) 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 employment and one in five using social networking sites to find their next role.
Lovell added: "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."
