New survey shows dissatisfaction with employment
A new survey done by the Conference Board showed that job satisfaction is at an all-time low of about 45%. That’s the number of people content with their current situation. The economy doesn’t help. When the 2008 recession began, workers were cut. The declining workforce means that those left standing had to pick up the slack. They were called upon to take on bigger responsibilities, bigger projects, more worry, but without any more pay. The strain put workers into a state of greater unease about their jobs.
The history of job satisfaction
Job satisfaction has been declining for some time now. The trend towards being unsatisfied with employment has risen since 1987. The director of the Conference Board, Lynn Franco, had this to say:“What we have seen over the last 22 years is that irrespective of whether the economy is boom or bust, the overall level of satisfaction expressed by US workers has been steadily declining across every single aspect of the job.” Those aspects include pay, benefits, job security, promotional possibilities, bonuses, workloads, communication, and future growth.
A major contributor to the feeling of displeasure is the feeling that workers cannot get ahead. Higher expenses make for increasing difficulty for people to overcome them. The 2009 Kaiser Family Foundation report revealed that the average worker contributes $ 779 for single workers, and $ 3,515 for families. Prices of shelter, household goods, and food have increased as well. Wages, by contrast, have gone nowhere. Franco said, “The shifting of health-care costs from employer to employee and the fact that wages have not been growing all that rapidly means purchasing power is diminished.”
People respond by taking higher-paying jobs
To make it through the difficult economy, many workers are taking higher-paying jobs that are less rewarding. Robert Frank, the author of “Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class,” said that “If people are feeling more economic pressure, they are more willing to sacrifice other dimensions of job satisfaction in order to get more money.” It’s always been the goal for workers to make the most money possible, but to also be satisfied with the job. Studies are indicating that people will forego satisfaction for making ends meet during harder times.
Satisfaction denied means lag in productivity
Some experts suggest that discontent is a very difficult result of taking any job. Although people believe that money is a panacea, studies have shown that it isn’t. In fact, once you have a pool of people doing jobs that they don’t necessarily like, it creates a team of people who are much less productive. Employers should ideally look for workers that are engaged in both the business overall and their jobs. Without that connection, jobs suffer. Adam Grant, a management professor of at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, said, “There has to be a connection to a real outcome for the end users – clients, customers, patients, etc. As the world globalizes and companies begin to do more outsourcing and more international work, they are using more 24-hour communication and technology to make it easier to get jobs done without a face-to-face connection with the people benefiting from the work you do.” That can seriously cut back the amount of job satisfaction workers experience.
Overall it is a good market to find a job
Overall, it is a good market to find a job in, but at what price? The economy is starting to show signs of recovery, and will likely be back to normal by mid-2010. That change should encourage people at their jobs to look forward to a time when their employers can return to old practices. The workers will be in line for their standard annual raises, 401k contributions will resume and benefits will no longer be on hold.
