Only a third of us report looking forward to going to work, the rest are either ambivalent or dread it. And despite the coalition’s attempts to make the workplace more family-friendly through childcare and parental leave measures, a quarter of people still feel there is not enough flexibility in their jobs to balance work and the rest of their life.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “What job we do is a big part of our identity. Yet this poll reveals that many of us work in unfair workplaces that don’t get the best out of their staff. Employers and politicians talk up the flexible labour market, but for too many it means being treated as only slightly more important than what is in the stationery cupboard.”
The study also reveals the scale of unreliable or zero-hours contracts. One in five people say that either they or someone else at their workplace has experienced insecure or irregular work that meant they did not know how much work or pay they would get from week to week.