Twin Cities based WCCO-TV had the following lead story on last night’s 10PM news: “Good Question: Why do People Hate Their Jobs? The story reported that about fifty percent of the people surveyed (and 61% of those under 25!) reported that they hate their jobs and twenty percent believed that they would be with a new employer this time next year. The story goes on to say that the biggest gripes are about employers’ bonus plans, promotion policies, performance reviews, workload, and work/life balance. And people report that the most important part about their jobs is the people with whom they work ,their co-workers. Here are a couple of observations:
First, Dr. Mick Sheppeck (whom I’ve known for about 15 years) alluded to the fact that employers and the world of work need to change. To go a little deeper, companies that started up twenty-five, fifty and even a hundred years ago have policies and procedures about compensation, promotions, workload and performance expectations that are more reflective of the era in which the company began rather than the expectations of workers today. For example, many of these policies and procedures came about in the era when two parent households had one wage earner (usually the husband) and there was no need for child-care. Now we have dual wage earner families, as well as single parent households that seek more jobs that have flex time that provide the work life balance so many seek. While some companies offer flextime, many still lack this option.
Second, given that what people like most about their jobs seems to be their co-workers, we once again have evidence that working relationships matter a lot. Companies that invest in creating environments where people can work and play well with others will reap the benefits. Companies that do not recognize how important these working relationships can be will suffer the consequences.