Job Dissatisfaction Remains High!

By Ron Buono, Vice-President MRI Hendersonville, NC

For the last few years or so, what with the job market being somewhat anemic in many sectors, most employees have quite literally "kept their heads down." But don't mistake silence and a low profile as meaning your employees are necessarily satisfied with their lot.
Maybe they are and maybe they're not! And, while attracting top talent is of course very important to firms wanting to compete in today's marketplace, retaining them is equally important!

According to 2005 survey data (the latest data) published by The Conference Board, an independent business "think tank" and research organization, U.S. job satisfaction continues its steadily downward trend.

First the good news: Half of all American workers say they are "satisfied" with their jobs. Now the bad news: Nearly 60% said they were "satisfied" just ten years earlier. More bad news: Of the half who said they were "satisfied," only 14% of that group said they are "very satisfied."
More alarming news: A full one-fourth of respondents said they are just "showing up to collect a paycheck"!"Rapid technological changes, rising productivity demands and changing employee expectations have all contributed to the decline in job satisfaction," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center.

Franco added that, as large numbers of "baby boomers" begin leaving the workforce, the job satisfaction picture can not be expected to improve significantly. The younger workers who will replace the "boomers" also tend to be unhappy with their jobs. Add to that the fact that these younger workers also tend to have different attitudes and expectations about the role of work in their lives. According to MRI data and other surveys by Fortune and Forbes by the end of the decade between 10-20 million technical and management jobs will go unfilled due to the “baby boomers retiring”.

Some companies of course will pooh-pooh job satisfaction results such as these. What's new? They will say. You can't satisfy everyone. And, when things pick up in the economy there is always employee turnover. It is just a “fact of life”.

Well, here's another fact of life that ought to be considered: According to a recent Ernst & Young survey, the cost of replacing a high-level employee can go as high as 150% of that employee's salary! We are beginning to see Counter-Offers of up to 30% beginning to return into the marketplace.

What's causing all of this dissatisfaction among employees? Well, for one thing, as business budgets have been squeezed tighter and tighter in recent years, employees have been forced to increase their workload without any commensurate additional compensation. To put it bluntly, a lot of these folks are now feeling "used."

Employees also cite these areas of concern as driving their growing level of dissatisfaction: their companies' bonus plans, promotion policies, health insurance plans and pensions.

Management also comes in for substantial criticism. Fewer than one-third of supervisors and managers are perceived to be strong leaders, The Conference Board report shows.
"Shrugging off employee disengagement would be a disastrous, short-sighted view creating lasting global repercussions for American business," said Shubhra Ramchandani, North American Stakeholder Management Practice Leader at TNS, a market information company that conducted the research project among 5,000 U.S. households for The Conference Board. According to Bill Olson, President & CEO of MRI the current unemployment rate among professionals is 2.5-2.6%.

Here are some strategies for improving overall job satisfaction among employees:
Give workers responsibility (and authority)—and let them use it! Many business owners, supervisors and managers, fearful of a shrinking bottom line, have turned to micromanagement, a practice sure to turn off key employees.

Show respect. Sounds simple enough, but obviously not done frequently enough. A lot of employees say that, during the tight times, they were treated more like the "enemy" than as a valued member of the "team."

Recognize the whole person. To be sure, work is a very important part of most people's lives, but it certainly isn't the only thing in their lives. Smart employers recognize this fact and treat their employees accordingly.

Mark out a clear path to career growth. What good company would really want an employee who remains eternally satisfied with his or her current position? Smart employers give ample opportunities for each employee to grow as much as possible in their jobs.

What message should employers take away from all of this? Job dissatisfaction trends can be reversed, even among the most distraught employees. But it takes work, creativity and a total commitment (not simply "lip service") on the part of management. The cost of doing nothing, or merely accepting the status quo, is just too high for companies that want to remain on the cutting edge in an increasingly competitive marketplace.