“Americans are growing increasingly unhappy with their jobs” is the opening sentence of a recent Conference Board survey of job satisfaction. This indicator has been falling for the last 10 years, yet in the past few years, many people may have been reluctant to try to do anything but make the best of things. But that “stickiness” appears to be changing.
If recent surveys are correct, many of your co-workers – maybe even you – are considering a change. Recruiting firms, busy last year, are even busier in the first half of this year. A recent Execunet survey shows 61% of employees are not satisfied with their jobs; a Society of Human Resource Management/Career Journal survey shows a whopping 81% actively searching or passively receptive to offers.
Why the movement now? One theory says employees have reached the tipping point: they are tired of being expected to do ever more with less. Another possibility, more people are looking for a better fit between who they are and what they do. And yet another possibility, people want to work in an environment that really engages and uses the knowledge and energy they bring with them. The problem is real: organizations whose employees are less satisfied are at risk of losing of key human capital and increasing their cost of doing business in an ever more globally competitive world. The Conference Board is taking this issue seriously and as of March 1, 2005 launched a Working Group on Employee Engagement and Commitment.
A couple of thoughts from a “hard fun” perspective for the Working Group to consider:
- Find out how many dissatisfied employees feel that they are not respected in their place of employment. Ask for stories that give specific examples of this. Respect has been shown to be an important aspect of high performance work environments. In one global study of knowledge workers respect meant that they were able to use the knowledge and experience they had on their jobs.
- Look at the relationship between satisfaction and scale. How close can one feel to 150,000 co-workers? Effective groups have optimal sizes and organizations may need to rethink how they are structured to provide the environment where employees can feel genuinely engaged and see that their contribution matters. An example of this is Semco.
- Lastly, consider the way in which communication happens in organizations where employees are satisfied versus where there is high dissatisfaction. Issues of timeliness, trustworthiness, relevance and completeness are important. One possibly overlooked issue is that of emotional connection. Emotions are part of the workplace and have an impact on the degree to which individuals are motivated. When employees make a genuine emotional connection to what is being communicated – seeing clearly how they relate to it and how their actions contribute to organizational accomplishments – they may be much more likely to be satisfied with their jobs and their employer.
What do you think? Is job satisfaction possible or is it an outmoded concept? Post your thoughts in Q&A.
