In what could be considered a surprising reversal of conventional wisdom, especially during a cost of living crisis, a new study has revealed that Britons are least likely to deem work as important among respondents from 24 global countries, including France, the USA, and Japan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The report by the Policy Institute at King’s College London,\u00a0titled ‘What the world thinks about work’\u00a0highlighted that one in five UK residents now say work is not a priority in their lives.<\/p>\n
It also revealed that Brits are most likely to disagree that work should always come first, even if it means less leisure time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The study also reported that Britons tend to harbour diminished faith in the promise of ‘a better life through hard graft,’ marking a downward trend since the early 2000s. Millennials, in particular, showed a substantial decrease in prioritising work, from 41% in 2009 to just 14% in 2022, caused by stagnant economic and wage growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Across the board, the report found that the UK public places a higher emphasis on luck over hard work compared to 1990. Furthermore, the preference for a better work-life balance is emerging as a long-term shift, with 43% believing that less importance should be placed on work, up from 26%. UK and Sweden\u00a0are least likely to consider non-working individuals as slackers.<\/p>\n