January 3, 2008
Perhaps unaware of the secret location that Guru uses to escape his in-laws, Eastenders and leftover turkey, thousands of UK workers had so little fun at home this Christmas that they looked forward to returning to work last week.
More than three in 10 workers were looking forward to being back at their desk for nine hours a day, according to a survey by business psychology experts OPP.
Workers over the age of 35 – perhaps those where Christmas is less likely to equal new bikes or new sexual relationships, and more likely to mean new arguments and new credit card bills – are the keenest to return to work. Four out of five in this scroogeist age group were relishing the return to work.
This was expertly explained by Lucy McGee, head of marketing at OPP. “Generation X has grown up," she said. "Its ideas are shaping a workplace that satisfies many of the motivating factors individuals seek at a personal level – such as a plan to attack the New Year with renewed vigour.”
Generation X has not so much grown up, thinks Guru, as grown tired of Auntie Ethel’s war stories and stale mince pies. Of course, the bitter irony is that as soon as people return to work, they find their colleague’s Christmas anecdotes and leftovers just as unappealing.
