Survey: job security worries employees.

By Minton-Eversole, Theresa
Publication: HRMagazine
Date: Friday, August 1 2008

There's good news and not-so-good news revealed in the results of the 2008 Job Satisfaction Survey Report released June 22 by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

The good news: A vast majority of employees responding to the January survey--female and older workers, in particular--said

Ads by Google

Human Resource Management
For Small Businesses In Nepal Provided By The World Bank.
www.BizMantra.org

Swiss Online MBA
The University of Wales Online MBA at Robert Kennedy College, Zurich
wales.college.ch

Employee Appraisal
Employee Evaluation Form Templates Download it Now & Get the Job Done!
BizTree.com

they are satisfied with their current jobs. The human resource professionals responding also said that their workforces were satisfied with their jobs.

The bad news: Reminiscent of sentiments revealed in the 2002 survey's inaugural report, both groups once again appear skittish about the growing number of factors that could negatively affect employees and the workplace.

The objectives of the Job Satisfaction Series are to identify and understand factors important to overall employee job satisfaction from the perspectives of both employees and HR professionals. The 2008 survey explored 24 aspects of employee job satisfaction associated with career development, relationships with management, compensation and benefits, and work environment, as compared to surveys conducted since 2002.

Overall, 685 HR professionals and 601 employees responded to this year's online survey, yielding 25 percent and 48 percent response rates, respectively. HR professionals were asked to estimate overall employee job satisfaction at their organizations, and employees were asked to indicate their overall satisfaction with their current or most recent jobs.

Mirror to the Past

Topping the list in 2008, as in 2002, job security emerged as a primary employee concern, reflecting growing uneasiness with current economic conditions, increased corporate outsourcing of jobs, downsizing and bankruptcies, and more intense global competition for jobs. This factor ranked first or second among the top five very important aspects of job satisfaction, according to employees, regardless of industry, staff size, tenure, age or gender. Other factors cited by employees:

* Benefits.

* Compensation.

* Feeling safe in the work environment (workplace safety).

* Senior management/employee communication.

* Opportunity to use skills, abilities.

* Relationship with immediate supervisor.

* The work itself.

The 2008 employee findings were similar to the 2007 job satisfaction results. The main differences were that flexibility to balance work/life issues dropped from the 2008 top five list, and opportunities to use skills and abilities and the work itself increased in importance from 2007 to 2008. The top five aspects for HR professionals in 2008 were nearly identical to 2007, except for variations in the order.