No more nine to five? Technology liberates workers to think creatively about tomorrows work

47% of workers agreed that in the future, technology would free up their time to do more enjoyable things, against 12% who strongly disagreed. 52% of workers also wanted in future to be able to control the hours they spend working, by only working when appropriate (such as later in the business day if much of the work is driven by contact with people in different time zones around the world), as opposed to working the traditional five days a week. Moreover, 75% wanted a four-day working week. In September, whilst the quantitative MORI research was being conducted, Microsoft brought together three working groups, made up of representatives from industry bodies, Government, small business, human resources and information technology departments, to look at current research and knowledge gaps around the use of technology in work and the social and business issues that exist. The groups concluded that employers of all sizes would face significant challenges in responding to these changing working practices, especially in the management of and communication within more disparate workforces. This quantitative and qualitative research forms the first phase of Microsoft?s tomorrow?s work, a long-term programme of academic study into how work is going to change in the next five years and how organisations in both the public and private sectors will need to respond to the challenges that new working practices will create. As part of the tomorrows work study, Microsoft announced that it would be commissioning a number of individual academic research projects to explore specific areas that were identified as a priority by the working groups. The results of these studies will be made available throughout 2004.<