A New Low

The Conference Board has released a new study, which I picked up via National Public Radio, that employee satisfaction (as the Board measures it) is at an all-time low. They report that “just 45 percent of people surveyed said they were satisfied with their jobs. That number fell from more than 61 percent who said they were satisfied in 1987, the first year the survey was conducted.”

Yikes.

The report continues:

Even more troubling, says Lynn Franco, Conference Board spokeswoman, is the satisfaction rate of young workers, less than 36 percent.”Generally the longer you are in the workforce the more your satisfaction seems to deteriorate. So these new young entrants with such a low level of satisfaction, the outlook is not very promising there. It’s something employers need to address very quickly.”

These findings are generally in keeping with the survey results we see from our partners at Quantum Workplace. How many companies have reacted to the economic conditions and their approach to leading their employees through this mess has not helped the cause– we’ve generally blown it when it comes to maintaining and highly engaged place to work.

For some managers the response will be a shrug and feeling that nothing can be done. For others this can be a rallying cry in to increase efforts at re-engaging those with whom they work. (“re-engage”, kind of a catchy name!). Here’s hoping you are one who is ready to lift up employees and renew engagement at work.