A Snapshot of Today's Employee Attitudes
In the U.S., many employees are in an angry and anxious mood, suggest recent surveys. A majority of surveyed workers lack trust in corporate executives and want the federal government to provide stricter oversight of businesses. On the other hand, some data show that most workers remain happy with their immediate supervisors, and there's evidence that overall morale remains fairly high.
The lack of faith in top leadership is among the most disturbing findings of the latest "America at Work" poll, released in late August by the Employment Law Alliance (ELA). The poll of 1,000 Americans found, for instance, that 53% of respondents have little trust in corporate executives to solve problems. By comparison, just 35% said they lack faith in labor unions to solve problems, and almost 6 in 10 said they support having unions organize workers in more companies so that workers will be better protected. Nearly three quarters (73%) said there should be mandatory representation of rank-and-file workers on corporate boards, and 79% said new laws are needed to prevent corporate abuses.
Stephen J. Hirschfeld, chief executive of the ELA, interpreted the poll findings as indicating a "high level of mistrust, anxiety and frustration ... that can be felt in every assembly line and cubicle throughout America." He considers this a major change in workers' perceptions. To a large degree, such findings seem to stem from rising cynicism about U.S. corporations in light of recent business scandals.
Another recent survey suggesting similar trends comes from the AFL-CIO, which also conducted an August poll. It found that half of workers who don't belong to a union said they'd join a union tomorrow if they had a chance, up eight percentage points from the responses to the same question in 2001. Other data also indicates that today's workers have a less-negative view of organized labor than in the past. A 1954 Gallup Poll found, for example, that 46% of respondents considered "big labor" as the major threat of the nation, compared with just 10% in July 2002. The same survey indicated that 58% of 800 surveyed workers said they had a negative view of CEOs.
Workers' negative views do not, however, seem to extend to immediate supervisors, according to a survey poll conducted by staffing service Randstad. The poll of 1,100 workers and almost 1,000 employers, which was conducted in the first three months of 2002, found that fully 87% of workers say they're either very (56%) or somewhat (31%) satisfied with their supervisor/manager. Another welcome finding was that 57% of workers at large companies said employee morale is good or excellent.
But even the Randstad survey suggests there are some serious problems in the realm of employee relations. Employees tend to be much more satisfied with their supervisors than they are with their companies. And there's often a large gap between employee and employer viewpoints. For example, whereas fully 79% of employers believe they take care of their workers, just 44% of employees agree. Well over half (60%) of employers state that they're taking actions to boost worker morale, but only 33% of employees agree.
Various surveys agree that honest communication is one of the keys to improving employee-employer relationships. "Employees are saying, 'Trust us enough to communicate with us fully, honestly and often,'" Joanne Reichardt, vice president of Randstad North America, told the San Diego Union-Tribune. And a Hewitt Associates study of "The 50 Best Companies to Work For in Canada" found that the vast majority of the best organizations share not only business results but also business goals on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis. Studies also indicate that the method of communication is key. A survey conducted by management consulting firm HR Solutions has found that over half of employees (55%) prefer to get organizational information directly from their supervisor, although just 33% actually receive information this way. Like the other employee-employer perception gaps, this finding suggests that there's still a considerable amount of employee relations progress yet to be made in today's business environment.
For a Washington Post article on employee attitudes, see
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27741-2002Sep2.html
For more information on the ELA survey, please go to
http://www.employmentlawalliance.com/
Other information on this survey can be found at
http://www.millernash.com/shownews.asp?Show=74
For more information on the AFL-CIO study, see
http://www.aflcio.org/news/2002/0829_poll.htm and
http://www.aflcio.org/publ/press2002/pr0829b.htm
For more information on the Randstad survey, see
http://www.us.randstad.com/global/randstad_surveyresults.html
For more information on the HR Solutions survey, see
http://www.hrsolutionsinc.com/pr02062002.htm
The lack of faith in top leadership is among the most disturbing findings of the latest "America at Work" poll, released in late August by the Employment Law Alliance (ELA). The poll of 1,000 Americans found, for instance, that 53% of respondents have little trust in corporate executives to solve problems. By comparison, just 35% said they lack faith in labor unions to solve problems, and almost 6 in 10 said they support having unions organize workers in more companies so that workers will be better protected. Nearly three quarters (73%) said there should be mandatory representation of rank-and-file workers on corporate boards, and 79% said new laws are needed to prevent corporate abuses.
Stephen J. Hirschfeld, chief executive of the ELA, interpreted the poll findings as indicating a "high level of mistrust, anxiety and frustration ... that can be felt in every assembly line and cubicle throughout America." He considers this a major change in workers' perceptions. To a large degree, such findings seem to stem from rising cynicism about U.S. corporations in light of recent business scandals.
Another recent survey suggesting similar trends comes from the AFL-CIO, which also conducted an August poll. It found that half of workers who don't belong to a union said they'd join a union tomorrow if they had a chance, up eight percentage points from the responses to the same question in 2001. Other data also indicates that today's workers have a less-negative view of organized labor than in the past. A 1954 Gallup Poll found, for example, that 46% of respondents considered "big labor" as the major threat of the nation, compared with just 10% in July 2002. The same survey indicated that 58% of 800 surveyed workers said they had a negative view of CEOs.
Workers' negative views do not, however, seem to extend to immediate supervisors, according to a survey poll conducted by staffing service Randstad. The poll of 1,100 workers and almost 1,000 employers, which was conducted in the first three months of 2002, found that fully 87% of workers say they're either very (56%) or somewhat (31%) satisfied with their supervisor/manager. Another welcome finding was that 57% of workers at large companies said employee morale is good or excellent.
But even the Randstad survey suggests there are some serious problems in the realm of employee relations. Employees tend to be much more satisfied with their supervisors than they are with their companies. And there's often a large gap between employee and employer viewpoints. For example, whereas fully 79% of employers believe they take care of their workers, just 44% of employees agree. Well over half (60%) of employers state that they're taking actions to boost worker morale, but only 33% of employees agree.
Various surveys agree that honest communication is one of the keys to improving employee-employer relationships. "Employees are saying, 'Trust us enough to communicate with us fully, honestly and often,'" Joanne Reichardt, vice president of Randstad North America, told the San Diego Union-Tribune. And a Hewitt Associates study of "The 50 Best Companies to Work For in Canada" found that the vast majority of the best organizations share not only business results but also business goals on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis. Studies also indicate that the method of communication is key. A survey conducted by management consulting firm HR Solutions has found that over half of employees (55%) prefer to get organizational information directly from their supervisor, although just 33% actually receive information this way. Like the other employee-employer perception gaps, this finding suggests that there's still a considerable amount of employee relations progress yet to be made in today's business environment.
For a Washington Post article on employee attitudes, see
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27741-2002Sep2.html
For more information on the ELA survey, please go to
http://www.employmentlawalliance.com/
Other information on this survey can be found at
http://www.millernash.com/shownews.asp?Show=74
For more information on the AFL-CIO study, see
http://www.aflcio.org/news/2002/0829_poll.htm and
http://www.aflcio.org/publ/press2002/pr0829b.htm
For more information on the Randstad survey, see
http://www.us.randstad.com/global/randstad_surveyresults.html
For more information on the HR Solutions survey, see
http://www.hrsolutionsinc.com/pr02062002.htm