| |
November/December
2002
Take
my job - please!
ARE
YOUR EMPLOYEES SIMPLY SHOWING UP MOST DAYS?
HALF
OF ALL WORKERS hate their jobs. Wait, scratch that: let’s
be more precise. According to a new survey by The Conference
Board, a non-profit organization that studies business issues,
just 51 percent of all American workers say they are satisfied
with their jobs. That figure stood at 59 percent just seven
years ago.
Perhaps most alarming, workers aged 35-44 had the highest
level of satisfaction in 1995 (at 61 percent) – but today
have the lowest (at 47 percent). In the year 2000, according
to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that age group accounted
for 27 percent of the workforce – five percent higher
than the nearest age group. By 2010, those same individuals
will be in the 45-54 age bracket – where most high-level
promotions occur – and will continue to be the largest
age group, based on current demographic trends. Will they
also continue to be the least happy?
While exact percentages are likely to vary from country to
country, there is little reason to believe that overall trends
are markedly different. Work just isn’t as much fun as
it used to be.
According to Lynn Franco, research director of The Conference
Board, the survey found almost no bright spots.
For example, even though satisfaction increases with income
level, satisfied workers in the highest income breakout declined
from 67 percent in 1995 to 55 percent in 2002. And while
58 percent of survey respondents claimed to like their fellow
workers, that percentage declined as well – from over
64 percent in the previous study. Some aspects of work received
a failing grade. A scant 22 percent of today’s workers
said their promotional opportunities were satisfactory (the
lowest rating in the survey), only 37 percent approved of
their wages and just 40 percent found their health plan sufficient.
Exactly half were satisfied with job security.
Yes, your workers are showing up for work each day (at least
until the economy improves), but where are their minds?
One clue comes from another study, this one conducted last
spring by the Pew Research Center, which found that over one-third
of all working Americans – some 52 million people –
have searched for a job online. The number of visits per day,
Pew calculated, is a staggering four million. Based on visits
to Sanford Rose Associates’ own website, spikes occur
over the lunch hour and again in early evening, around 8:00.
Why are
so many people trolling for jobs, and what will happen when
economic recovery begins and corporate hiring freezes end?
It’s a mad, mad world
There’s
a lot of anger in the workplace:
- At
the capriciousness of modern employment;
- At
the perceived greed of top management;
- At
frozen salaries and reduced benefits;
- At
reduced promotional opportunities;
- At
facing an uncertain retirement age and income level;
- At
being expected to do the work of two;
- At
never being thanked for a job well done.
As this
newsletter has noted in the past, good headhunters are trained
to ferret out a potential job prospect’s “reasons
to leave.” Maybe it’s being passed over for promotion,
reporting to an unbearable boss or experiencing an unsettling
sense of impending doom (e.g., the company is headed toward
bankruptcy court or a hostile takeover). What the search
professional seeks is emotion, because – nine times out
of ten – offering a cure for emotional upset beats waving
more money at the candidate or promising more perks.
Some employers may feel a false sense of security from the
fact that employee resignations don’t seem to be particularly
high, but that is primarily attributable to the lackluster
job market, stalled economy and uncertainty about world events.
Unless the economic cycle has been repealed, there will be
brighter days ahead, and employees once again will feel more
comfortable in trading the devil they know for the devil they
don’t.
Can passion be made to pay?
Gallup pollster Gabriel Gonzales-Molina, in collaboration
with Curt Coffman, has written a new book called Follow This
Path: How the World’s Great Organizations Drive Growth
by Unleashing Human Potential (Warner Books, 2002). Based
on Gallup’s research at thousands of companies around
the world, the book examines the amount of passion that employees
have for their jobs, their co-workers and their customers.
In keeping with the Conference Board survey, the book contends
that 50 to 60 percent of workers are doing less than their
best work – and that up to 20 percent are “actively
disengaged” from work (i.e., on an emotional level, they
have left their current place of employment).
If 100 percent of an organization’s workers were motivated
to do their best work, say the authors, then sales would go
up, customers would be more loyal and both productivity and
profits would increase. Moreover, since better-motivated workers
would be happier workers, turnover would decline.
That state of grace, of course, cannot be accomplished overnight.
Just like gardens and marriages, workplaces require constant
tending. Small amounts of effort, however, can produce big
improvements. For instance, publicly recognizing an employee
for performance above and beyond the call of duty doesn’t
take a whole lot of time, energy or money – yet it can
boost an entire department’s morale.
And when times are tough, employees want to know that management
cares. Thus, on the battlefield, the commanding general makes
sure his troops have been fed before partaking himself. Unfortunately,
that fundamental principle of leadership has been lost on
too many corporate chieftains of late, who not only devour
their own rations – but those of employees and shareholders
as well.
The good news is that improving organizational effectiveness
and morale does not require brain surgery (although your employees
may disagree). Rather, it requires a simple combination of
humility and common sense: “If I would not want to be
treated this way, why would my employees?” (Or, from
a positive standpoint: “What can I do to help people
feel proud to work here?”)
Meanwhile, time’s a-wasting. If your employees match
the Conference Board profile, up to half could scoot when
better times beckon. And they may not be the half you want
to lose.
|
