A report released this week based on a survey of 5,000 US households conducted for The Conference Board by TNS reported that only 45 percent of those surveyed say that are satisfied with their job. This number is down from 61.1 percent in 1987, the first year the survey was conducted. Unfortunately, there has been a consistent downward trend for a couple of decades now.
Similarly, the recession and its accompanying reorganizations, layoffs and corporate turns to outsourcing have been caustic to IT employee job satisfaction, as reported in a mid-2009 job satisfaction survey by the Corporate Executive Board, a Washington-based advisory firm. The firm surveys 150,000 workers each quarter, asking a battery of behavioral questions about their jobs. About 10,000 of those surveyed work in IT jobs, according to board officials. Job satisfaction has plummeted to its lowest levels in the ten years since this survey began.
In the past, prior to the Great Depression, people generally worked because they had to. Happiness was rarely considered or even necessary. However, since the 90's, when the economy was good and people had more choices about their work, job satisfaction was important and even measured, sometimes annually, using tools such as employee satisfaction surveys administered by employers and independent outside firms.
Today, with unemployment at its highest, more hard-earning wages going toward health insurance and other benefits, minimal pay raises (if any), and a lean workforce people are making many concessions to stay employed. The bottom-line is ruling rather than the growth or satisfaction of employees. So, no wonder people reported feeling more dissatisfied with their work!
These figures are frightening! Employee dissatisfaction is costly to American companies because it results in multiple workplace ills, including declines in employee engagement, productivity and retention. As the economy starts heading in a more positive direction, many valuable employees will leave.
