According to research carried out recruiters Office Angels, over half of UK workers feel that old fashioned traditions such as the tea trolley made their office a more sociable and relaxed place to work. And almost a third felt that it made them more motivated.
Results showed that while today's workers are in favour of up-to-date technology for speed and ease, they miss one-to-one communication and the home comforts found in the offices of a decade ago.
Among the workplace traditions British workers would like to bring back:
- Taking a full hour for your lunch break (39% of respondents)
- Annual 'work outing' (33%)
- Subsidised canteen (29%)
- The tea trolley (26%)
- Long pub lunches (23%)
- Fresh sandwiches delivered to the office (19%)
And the traditions they're glad to see the back of:
- Smoking in the office (94% of respondents)
- Bringing your partner or spouse to the Christmas party (92%)
But modern working life has created issues of its own that workers would like to see the back of:
- Long working hours (61% of respondents)
- Eating lunch at the desk (50%)
- Team bonding days (38%)
- Open plan offices (34%)
- Lack of 'face time' as conference calls, e-mail and the blackberry take over (23%)
David Clubb, managing director of Office Angels recommends that staff come up with their own traditions, recommending team lunches or scheduled daily tea breaks as a good way of encouraging interaction.
Comments (2)
Posted by Paul Backhouse | August 18, 2008 11:13 AM
Employee happiness is critical to running a successful business. That's why the John Lewis Partnership spends over £10m annually on leisure benefits.
Each John Lewis and Waitrose branch is covered by a manager whose sole job is co-ordinating and managing local leisure benefits. We regularly organise work trips - we have been known to take over an entire West End theatre and bus employees in from across the country for an exclusive performance.
'Free time' for many people is not always something that they would want to use on 'work' related activities but we do organise for small groups to go abroad for a long weekend or on day trips to France. The traditional 'work do' does live on but in a form which reflects the increasingly varied tastes of today's workforce.
Posted on August 18, 2008 11:13
Posted by Professor Shaun Tyson | August 18, 2008 11:52 AM
Although the 1950s and 60s workplace was a more human environment, this was a time when discrimination was routine. There were few protective laws at the individual level and whilst insecurity has a rather too familiar resonance today, the options for working people then were few.
Perhaps the main issue is whether the pace of work, the 24/7 society, the globalization of business and the demands of new technology have produced a working world today where the economic narrative predominates. The tea trolley and the works outing were important as opportunities for social interaction, where friendships, shared experiences and the natural necessary cynicism of workers were legitimately expressed.
If managers can share responsibility and adopt developmental styles of supervision, with autonomous teams, this might mitigate the intensification of work, without undermining social relationships.
Posted on August 18, 2008 11:52