Not a way to make a living, British workers declare

British workers are increasingly pessimistic about salary levels—prompting them to seek greater flexibility and balance from their jobs instead, new research suggests.

The research was undertaken by former Twitter Vice President (EMEA) and Bayes Business School Honorary Visiting Professor, Bruce Daisley, and Early Studies, a creative research studio.

Bruce, who founded the Make Work Better newsletter, said, “Increasingly, workers feel that working hard at their job will not deliver their long-term goals in life. They are therefore prioritizing jobs that offer more of what they want today—namely flexibility and work-life balance.

Employers should be cautious before removing any of that flexibility.

The key findings to emerge from interviews with 450 British workers include:

• There is growing pessimism around the impact of work on participants’ lives: While 58% of those under 30 believe that work will provide them with long-term financial security, a third disagree. This is a significantly more pessimistic take than with older adults who started their careers in a different era.
• There is also a big disparity in expectations around job security, with most young people expecting it to decline.
• Flexible working tops the wish list of most workers, particularly for women workers
• Asked what employers misunderstand about their needs, most chose the importance of work/life balance and flexibility.
• The historic role of work as a source of social connection and friendship for many people appears to be declining, with only 32% of respondents enjoying such social benefits
• “Work-life balance” is the most important factor in job satisfaction at present but participants expect salary levels to overtake that at some point—and money is already the key attraction for people under 30.
• Participants said that a toxic work environment is the factor most likely to cause them to leave work. (Poor work-life balance, feeling undervalued or unrecognized and burnout were also major reasons for quitting).
• Asked what would boost their employer’s productivity, workers largely pointed to higher salaries
• Asked what aspect of work dominates their job-related conversations with friends, most said the hot topic was high workloads; although many men said they or their friends felt that their work was repetitive and mundane.

Professor Andre Spicer, dean of Bayes Business School, said, “The survey paints a concerning picture of the contemporary workplace—one where employees lack social connections, feel overwhelmed with workload, in need of mental health support and financially insecure.

“Addressing this is a big leadership challenge. It will require organizations to create workplaces which facilitate connection and give employees flexibility to balance their work and life, while ensuring they have at least some degree of stability. Achieving this in a volatile and uncertain economy is a tough ask.

“The survey also takes on the issue of whether workers would become more productive if they were simply paid more. The participants said they would and there is some evidence for that belief.

“While average wages have been fairly flat for decades, productivity has grown at a faster pace. Workers need to see they are getting a benefit from improvements in productivity. Researchers do tend to find that firms with high levels of pay are well-managed and enjoy higher productivity.”

Alfred Malmros, co-founder of Early Studies and a former CMO of Google Ideas, said, “There are few things more personal than work, but we all want to believe we have a healthy distance to it. When asking people about others, we ironically get more personal and reflective.

“In this study we were amazed to see how traditional gut responses, like salary and career progression were circumvented, and deeper human needs surfaced as equally important.”