White-collar worker

Office workers

Awhite-collar workeris a person who performsprofessional service,desk,managerial,or administrative work. White-collar work may be performed in anofficeor other administrative setting. White-collar workers include job paths related togovernment,consulting,academia,accountancy,businessandexecutive management,customer support,design,economics,engineering,market research,finance,human resources,operations research,marketing,public relations,information technology,networking,law,healthcare,architecture,andresearch and development.

In contrast,blue-collar workersperformmanual laboror work inskilled trades;pink-collar workerswork in care, health care, social work, or teaching; andgrey-collarjobs combine manual labor and skilled trades with non-manual ormanagerialduties.

Etymology

The term refers to the whitedress shirtsof male office workers common through most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Western countries, as opposed to the blue overalls worn by many manual laborers.

The term "white collar" is credited toUpton Sinclair,an American writer, in relation to contemporaryclerical,administrative, and management workers during the 1930s,though references to white-collar work appear as early as 1935. White collar employees are considered highly educated as compared to blue collar.

Health effects

Less physical activity among white-collar workers has been thought to be a key factor in increased life-style related health conditions such asfatigue,obesity,diabetes,hypertension,cancer,andheart disease.Also, working at a computer could potentially lead to diseases associated with monotonous data entry such ascarpal tunnel syndrome.Workplace interventions such as alternative activity workstations,sit-stand desks,and promotion of stair use are among measures being implemented to counter the harms ofsedentaryworkplace environments.The quality of evidence used to determine the effectiveness and potential health benefits of many of these interventions is weak. More research is needed to determine which interventions may be effective in the long-term.Low quality evidence indicates that sit-stand desks may reduce sitting in the workplace during the first year of their use; however, it is not clear if sit-stand desks may be effective at reducing sitting in the longer-term.An intervention to encourage office workers to stand and move reduced their sitting time by 22 minutes after 1 year; the effect was 3-times greater when the intervention included a sit-to-stand desk. The intervention also led to small improvements in stress, wellbeing and vigour.

Demographics

Formerly a minority in theagrarianand earlyindustrialsocieties, white-collar workers have become a majority inindustrialized countriesdue tomodernizationandoutsourcingof manufacturing jobs.

Theblue-collarand white-collar phrases may no longer be literally accurate, as office attire has broadened beyond a white shirt. Employees in many offices may dress in colourful casual orbusiness casualclothes. In addition, the work tasks have blurred. "White-collar" employees may perform "blue-collar" tasks (or vice versa). An example would be arestaurant managerwho may wear moreformal clothingyet still assist with cooking food or taking customers' orders, or a construction worker who also performs desk work.

See also

• Designation of workers by collar color
• Knowledge worker
• Salaryman
• White-collar crime

Further reading

• Mills, Charles Wright.White Collar: the American Middle Classes,in series,Galaxy Book[s].New York: Oxford University Press, 1956.N.B.: "First published [in] 1951."

External links

• The dictionary definition ofwhite-collarat Wiktionary