Creativity and workplace attractiveness in professional employment

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the notion of attractive workplaces in the specific context of creative professional employment. Design/methodology/approach Based on observations and interview data at knowledge‐based firms in the UK, the paper looks at the extent to which employees are “rewarded” with the offer of creative work and the degree to which this offer really involves greater benefits for employees in terms of professional prestige and the confirmation of their identities as professional workers in the creative industries. Findings The paper finds that creative needs remain important components of the attractive workplace, but increasingly also of importance are the extrinsic rewards of an acceptable work‐life balance as the age profile of the technology worker changes and technology stagnates. Research limitations/implications This research focused on one group of workers within one specific country. Whilst it was found that work in the software sector is becoming less creative, this may not be the case across all contexts. Practical implications There is clearly a problem, of developing young technology specialists within Scotland. In order to maintain the “Smart, Successful Scotland” propounded by the Scottish Government, drastic steps need to be taken to educate the IT workers and indeed, entrepreneurs of the future. Originality/value This paper is new as there has been little recent research undertaken examining the IT sector in Scotland. More generally, there is a scarcity of work focusing on workplace attractiveness for IT specialists.