survey

In March 2019, we asked the adults at each of our Sunday congregations to complete a short anonymous survey about their work. Many thanks if you were one of the 300 who responded!

Here are some of the highlights:

  • Two thirds identified themselves as paid workers, either employed or self-employed. The remainder were retired (23%), full-time homemakers (5%) or between jobs (2%). So our church family seems to reflect the working patterns of Britain in general.
  • 48% women identified themselves a “employed”, only slightly less than among the men (58%).
  • Among the paid workers, 75% reported facing at least one challenge in their work.
  • The most common challenge was “not enough time for family”, reported by 44% of working men and 34% of working women. This was followed by “long or inflexible hours” (27% men, 21% women). Smaller numbers (10-20%) reported difficulties with low salary, conflict with colleagues, difficult managers, or ethical dilemmas.
  • The retired and the homemakers generally did not consider their roles in the home to be a type of “work.”
  • Among the paid workers, the majority (58%) are aware of other Christians in their workplace, but only 17% meet up regularly with them. There is potential to encourage more workplace Christian groups.
  • 65% of the paid workers commute beyond Maidenhead at least some of the time. This shows that we are regularly interacting with people far beyond the borders of our own town.