The Worker Satisfaction Conundrum

Here's an HR conundrum. During perhaps the greatest economic boom in U.S. history, a time when companies vied with one another to become "employers of choice," employees actually became less satisfied with their jobs, suggests a recent Conference Board survey.
Barely over half (50.7%) of the respondents to the Conference Board employee attitudes survey considered work generally satisfying. That's down 13.5% from 1995. The Conference Board reported that how people feel about job security hadn't changed much. Indeed, it had improved a little. But satisfaction with wages registered a considerable downturn (35.6% in 2000, down 9.4% since 1995). Few employees were satisfied with bonus plans, promotion policies, or training and education programs. Barely half were satisfied with vacation policies and fewer were satisfied with their work environment and equipment. Interest in work had dropped 11.5% since 1995. People don't even like their coworkers as much as they used to.
To be fair, other surveys have arrived at somewhat different conclusions. For example, a survey conducted for The Marlin Company by the Gallup Organization recently asked, "In general, how satisfied do you feel at work?" Among respondents, 21% said "extremely" and 33% said "quite a bit," though the rest were only "somewhat satisfied" or worse. Given all the emphasis on the so-called war for talent, it may be comforting for employers to know that managers and professionals reported the highest job satisfaction in the Gallup survey. The Conference Board survey also found that the most satisfied workers are the highest paid, but there's some bad news here. In the Conference Board survey, the most highly paid employees registered the biggest drop (11.4 percentage points) in satisfaction. Only 55% of them indicated they were satisfied overall. Meanwhile, both surveys suggest that workers on the front lines are significantly less satisfied than their more highly paid colleagues.
Aside from pay, stress may play an important role in worker dissatisfaction. In the U.S., stress is a growing driver of unscheduled absences from work, according to the annual CCH Inc. survey on absences. In 1995, stress was the reason given for 6% of unplanned time off, compared with 19% in 1999. The increase in stress reportedly was due to an increase in the hours Americans put in at work.
To avoid such stress, some employees are opting for less-burdensome jobs. A hint comes from another of the Conference Board's survey results: more respondents (58.2%) said they were satisfied with their commute than said they were satisfied with their jobs (50.7%). It's possible that people have taken "lesser" jobs because they involve less-onerous commutes. Several other studies have also noted a growing inclination to make do with less if that's what it takes to have more satisfying personal lives.
There are even signs that some professionals are hoping recent market declines will give them some room to breathe. Business Week reports that the recent dot-com downturns have resulted in a collective sigh of relief by professionals across all industries who are exhausted from years of trying to keep pace with the relentless change fueled by the upstarts. These people are ready for workweeks of less than 70 hours, more reasonable workloads and long-postponed vacations. Of course, this may only be a bit of temporary wishful thinking in a fast-changing world.
How concerned should U.S. employers be about dissatisfaction and stress rates? It's hard to know. Some studies suggest that the way people feel about their workplace – especially their direct supervisors and colleagues – plays a significant role in their work performance and turnover rates. Increased dissatisfaction may help explain the rise in U.S. quit rates in recent years. On the other hand, there are skeptics who doubt the importance of satisfaction rates. Perhaps some dissatisfaction is not such a bad thing. Grumbling about work to a modest extent could be a healthy way to vent stress and relieve tedium, as well as build camaraderie. That's not to say that employers should quit listening to those complaints. The way people feel about work and their jobs often reveals new ways to better manage the organization's most valuable resources.
====================================================

To read a CNN article on the Conference Board survey, please see
http://www.cnn.com/2000/CAREER/trends/10/23/job.dissatisfaction/index.html
To read more about the Gallup Organization's survey, please see
http://www.themarlinco.com/test/Asp/Gallup.asp
Workforce Online has a new article on worker satisfaction at
http://www.workforce.com/feature/00/06/64/
To read how burnt-out professionals are happy about the dot-com decline, see
http://www.businessweek.com/2001/01_05/b3717099.htm