British companies are too rule-bound and their staff want greater freedom and flexibility. This is the message to emerge from a study being undertaken by the Work Foundation, entitled The Changing World of Work.

The independent research consultancy has interviewed 1,243 staff across the UK, most of them working in organisations with more than 1,000 employees. Preliminary findings indicate that 85 per cent say their companies are based on formal rules and policies but only 6 per cent prefer to work in a rule-bound organisation.

Most wish to work for companies noted for their loyalty and mutual trust, which is demonstrated by allowing them access to newer technologies such as instant messaging, wikis and professional and social networking.

Alexandra Jones, the foundation’s associate director, says: “This emphasis on loyalty and mutual trust suggests that, while companies structure themselves with formal processes in order to ensure smooth running of the organisation, it is the working relationships that really keep them going.

“Those companies that use newer technologies are more likely to create a culture that people prefer and to encourage a sense of loyalty and a commitment to innovation. People prefer to be set clear goals and then left to work out for themselves how to achieve them.”

Jones says that excessive form filling, hierarchical structures and a lack of autonomy are the bane of employees’ lives, rather than concerns about time-keeping. She adds that anxiety about cash flow in the economic climate might lead some organisations to crack down on performance and introduce greater controls.

Michael Rendell, global head of human resource services at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), says: “Some industries lend themselves more to a less policy-driven culture than others. Professional and financial services companies, for example, are often bound by compliance and legislative requirements. Fast-evolving industries such as digital media, where new product development is critical to staying competitive, have led the way in terms of rewarding innovation and balancing less rigid cultures with productivity.”

Even in the public sector an emphasis on achievement is replacing a demand to meet targets. Local authorities, for example, can now choose which 35 targets out of 100 set by the Government are their priority instead of trying to meet all of them.

Further concerns for company directors came in a report published by PwC yesterday on the demands at work of the millennial generation — defined as those who entered the workforce after July 1, 2000. It found that they expect to work for a number of employers, not just one.

Rendell says: “What is new is younger people’s ability to mobilise into another job if their expectations and ideals are not met.

“We think chief executives are struggling with millennials because they need more information about what drives them and because they need to adapt their traditional approaches to attracting and integrating employees. This means focusing on things that millennials really want, such as training and development, and to think creatively about reward strategies.”

The PwC research confirmed that millennials view technology as key to socialising and networking, with the vast majority belonging to a social networking site such as Facebook. Aware of the benefits of knowledge sharing from networking, savvy companies are taking advantage of this by replicating Facebook-style sites in-house.

Dave Dunbar, head of BT Workstyle, says: “We aim to encourage the development of networking groups so that staff can communicate at work in the same way as they do outside. Our dispersed teams keep in touch to share and develop ideas, iron out problems and socialise — and probably communicate more than if they were in the same office. It means that when they do get together, the meetings are more productive.”

The importance and use of technology at work is underlined in the Work Foundation study, which is sponsored by BT. Nine out of ten people interviewed use e-mail, the internet and intranet at work and almost half have access to at least one form of the newer technologies such as instant messaging, wikis, virtual worlds, blogs or integrated voicemail and e-mail. Three out of four agree that technologies make it easier to do their job well.