UK graduates expect to work less flexible hours than those from China or the USA.

But they do envisage using a second language more than their USA counterparts.

Accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers polled nearly 3,000 graduates about to start their careers at one if its offices.

It revealed just seven percent of UK respondents thought they would work flexible hours compared to 13 percent of those from the USA and 18 percent of those from China. Some 83 percent said they would probably work regular office hours, compared to 75 percent of those from China and 73 percent American graduates.

The UK and American respondents fuelled the argument that those with English as their first language rarely learn another. Some 35 percent of UK graduates and 32 percent of those from the USA expect to use a second language at work. This compares unfavourably with China graduates of whom 87 percent think they may need to draw on additional language skills.

The poll was part of a study called Managing Tomorrows People: The Future of Work to 2020. It also shows that just 71 percent of UK graduates deliberately seek to work for employers with corporate responsibility behaviour reflecting their own. Nine out of 10 of USA graduates and 87 percent of those from China would.

Michael Poulten, the Personnel Manager of Reward and Benefits at Tesco, said: “We need to prepare ourselves for a new generation entering the market place. A significantly more mobile generation with differing expectations from an employer, and we will need to adapt to reflect this.”