npower find workers associate more with Atherton than other former England cricket captains

npower research has revealed that British employees see themselves most like former England cricket captain Mike Atherton in the workplace, according to a poll by the Ashes title sponsor.

According to the research of more than 1300 UK workers, one in four (23 per cent) see themselves as having an 'analytical' business personality like Atherton, rather than the flamboyancy of Kevin Pietersen.

A close second was David Gower, with 19 per cent of workers saying they adopted his 'laid back' style in the workplace. Ian Botham was third with 15 per cent of the vote, before Kevin Pietersen and Nasser Hussain took fourth and fifth place with four per cent and three per cent of the vote respectively.

The research also revealed some regional differences, with workers in Yorkshire and Wales likening themselves more to David Gower, and employees in the south east believing they are most like Ian 'Beefy' Botham.

Age differences were also apparent, as one in eight (12 per cent) of the youngest age group (18-24 year olds) see themselves as being like Kevin Pietersen at work, significantly higher than the national average.

Julia Lynch Williams, director of energy services at npower said: "As title sponsors of the Ashes, we conducted a light-hearted exercise to see if leadership styles on the cricket field would carry over to the workplace. While cricket fans loved the flamboyancy of Kevin Pietersen, it is clear a more thoughtful, analytical approach adopted by Mike Atherton is what the average worker could most identify with."

The survey offered participants the option of matching themselves with the leadership styles of five former England captains. The captains and styles were: Mike Atherton ('analytical'), David Gower ('laid back'), Ian Botham ('lead from the front'), Kevin Pietersen ('flamboyant') and Nasser Hussain ('intense').

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Notes to Editor:
Online research was undertaken by YouGov across a sample of 1346 UK workers. The research took place in June 2009.

About npower:
npower is one of the top energy suppliers to the UK business market, serving more than 230,000 small to medium sized enterprise sites and around 15,000 industrial and commercial customers, with more than 100,000 sites.

npower specialises in risk management solutions, including market-leading flexible energy purchasing, energy efficiency, and broader energy management functions, tailored to every size of business.

npower helps companies monitor and manage energy consumption to bring commercial and environmental benefits. To help achieve this, npower business has developed a monitoring and targeting (M&T) tool – encompass.

PR Contact:
Margherita Watt
npower
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Worcester
01905 340 481
www.npower.com