Rough guide to problems at work

What kind of problems do Christians face at their place of work? EN carried out a short survey in three churches in three different areas of the country to find out . . .

First of all we questioned 50 employed people attending an evangelical church in Guildford, Surrey. These included fairly even numbers of men and women. There was a good spread of age, and types of employment were evenly divided between manual work, clerical work and jobs which were a mixture of both. The participants were able to fill in the questionnaire anonymously.
Two other smaller surveys were carried out. One was in a church in Accrington, Lancashire, the other in a church in Clapham, inner London. Looking at these three very different locations hopefully gives balance to the figures we have produced. All the churches were nonconformist.

Satisfaction and pay

Of those questioned in Surrey, just 36% said that they found their job very satisfying (as opposed to unenjoyable or just OK). The groups which showed the most job satisfaction were those who had been in their current employment for two to five years, or who had changed jobs more than five times in their careers. This seems to imply that those with marketable skills get the most out of their work. Perhaps self-worth through feeling wanted and useful plays a role here. Job satisfaction went through a trough in the period of having been employed in the same work for five to ten years. But then it rose again for those who had been in the same job for more than ten years.
Asked about pay, 16% of people questioned in the Guildford survey felt that their wage was too low to live on, 54% said their salary was about right and 30% felt that they actually earned more than they needed. In the Accrington survey, the majority felt that their pay was about right, but over half questioned in Clapham said their pay was far too low.

Hours at work

The number of hours spent at their place of employment was an issue with many people. Asked whether they would rather work less hours for the same pay or have 10% more pay for the same hours, the Guildford answers were: 6% said they did not want either more pay or less hours; a very big figure of 72% replied that they would rather have less hours than more pay; and only 22% were more interested in more pay than less hours. Accrington showed the same tendency towards wanting to work less hours. In Clapham, this tendency was still there, but far smaller. Most workers in inner London needed more pay. These figures underline the fact that many Christians are under pressure at work, perhaps to the detriment of their ability to be involved in neighbourhood or church activities.

Six difficulties

The participants in the survey were then asked about the kinds of difficulties they faced as Christians at work.
There were six categories of problems and the questionnaire asked people to rate them personally on a scale of 1 to 6: 1 being the least problematical and 6 being the most painful. The six categories mentioned in the survey were: pressure to conform (e.g. to do overtime, to use bad language etc.); relationship problems (e.g. a difficult boss, anger, superficial friendships etc.); discrimination issues (e.g. exploitation of weaker employees, sexism, racism, etc.); sexual issues (e.g. temptation, harassment, speaking out against immorality, etc.); family issues (e.g. bringing stress home from work, balancing time for family and church, etc.); ethical issues (e.g. unable to give a Christian viewpoint, conscience over making someone redundant, etc.).
In all three parts of the country, the largest problem identified was in the area of family issues. This was true for both sexes, across the age spectrum, and whether or not people were married or single. Struggling to balance time spent at work with time for the family and time to get involved and support the church is an issue which church leaders therefore need to give far more thought to, in seeking to teach and help their congregations. A bar chart of the responses to the Guildford survey is shown in figure 1. It is interesting to look through and think about the way some difficulties are more problematical than others. Of course, Surrey is a comparatively wealthy part of the country with high rates of employment and this must be borne in mind in assessing the figures.
Comparison with figures obtained in the other two brief surveys showed some interesting trends. It was felt that pressure to conform was far higher in London and Lancashire than in Surrey. Sexual issues were much more prominent in Lancashire than in both the southern surveys, but discrimination issues in London and Accrington were far worse than in Surrey. Ethical issues featured prominently in Guildford.

What it is like

Some respondents spelled out their greatest problem in fuller detail. Here is a selection of some of the difficulties:

(A) = Accrington, (C) = Clapham,
(G) = Guildford

'Very busy. Tired at home. Snappy with everyone. Pressures at work from all directions. Therefore church commitment suffers.' (A)

'I have a boss who says one thing to you and then does something different behind your back. He is most untrustworthy.' (A)

'Sex. As a young Christian man, I receive a great deal of teasing about this matter.' (A)

'The problem is that I deal every day with people in great trouble/ hardship and I am not allowed to tell them about Jesus.' (A)

'My school has large Jewish and Asian elements and although it is nominally committed to a Christian ethos, I am required to be 'non-controversial' when speaking about religion. This is a problem when taking school assemblies.' (A)

'They always want me to do overtime - which I have to refuse because I have childcare commitments.' (C)

'Employees are pressured into lying about delays in payments.' (C)

'Balancing work and family relationships - not enough time. The fact is that we need two incomes in order to survive.' (C)

'Working full-time and having a family makes me feel that I am not there for my family. At weekends, I try to make it up . . . at times I feel so tired.' (C)

'A great deal of office chat about pornography. Very difficult to introduce a Christian view.' (G)

'Working unsociable hours. Early mornings and late nights - sometimes 2.00 am.' (G)

'I work as a midwife. Lots of ethical dilemmas concerning fertility treatment, abortion and advice about sexual behaviour - homosexuals wanting children, unmarried/teenage parents, etc.' (G)

'My greatest difficulty working in a school is the amount of paperwork and hours required outside the classroom. There is also a great lack of support in helping teachers deal with mental and emotional stress. ' (G)

JEB

Dr John Benton

© Evangelicals Now - November 1998
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