| Abstract: | This study is concerned with how car and steel workers in different countries see their work and what features of their work they feel important. The material is drawn from two international projects, namely the car and steel industry studies, both coordinated by the Vienna Centre. The former study was carried out in 15 countries, comprising in all 126 production units from 38 plants and 3214 interviews of workers. The latter study was carried out in 10 countries, in 24 plants and 47 production units, 1576 workers were interviewed. Clear differences were found between countries in how critically the workers were oriented to the burdens and challenges of their work. This was interpreted to reflect country-specific work assessment standards. However, differences should be seen as differences in emphasis rather than as manifestations of work cultures, which substantially differ from each other. The order of importance among work characteristics was roughly the same from country to country: matters related to physical and economic security were widely considered the most important aspects of work. |
