Slightly more than eight in 10 workers are satisfied, overall, with their jobs, a new survey says. That’s good. But less than half of those employees feel good about how their career’s advancing. That’s bad.
According to recent research from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), fewer than four out of 10 employees are feeling “very satisfied” with the elements they see as having the greatest impact on how they view work:
- opportunities to use skills and abilities
- job security
- compensation and pay
- communication with senior management, and
- relationship with their immediate supervisor.
Overall job satisfaction peaked at 86% in 2009, SHRM said, but 2012 numbers are still four points ahead of its low of 77% in 2002.
This year, opportunities to use skills and abilities bumped job security from the head of the issues employees identified as most important to job satisfaction.
The annual job satisfaction survey also examined employee engagement — how connected or committed employees are to their organization. It found that, on average, employees were only moderately engaged.
More than seven out of 10 employees were satisfied with their relationships with co-workers, opportunities to use their skills, the contribution of their work to the employer’s business goals, and their relationship with their immediate supervisor.
The survey also found:
- Seventy-one percent of employees frequently felt they were putting all their effort into their work and completely focused on their work projects.
- Only 41% felt that people in their organization volunteer for new projects.
- Older respondents were the only age group that placed relationship with their immediate supervisor as the top factor contributing to their engagement.
The survey polled 600 randomly selected employees at small to large companies. The full results of the poll can be found here.
