Sixty Percent of Employees Looking for a Way Out
By George Anderson
It will not take a good love gone bad, as in David Allan Coe’s country and western classic, Take This Job and Shove It, to motivate workers to quit their present jobs,
says a new CareerBuilder.com study.
The At Work 2003 survey found one out of four employees say work stinks and 60 percent are looking for a way out of their present company.
“While workers feel fortunate to have jobs in today’s tight job market, job satisfaction levels are declining, and new job plans are emerging in anticipation of an economic recovery
down the road,” said Matt Ferguson, president and chief operating officer of CareerBuilder.com.
The biggest complaints employees have is with their pay. Roughly half of women surveyed and 53 percent of men aren’t happy with the money they’re bringing home.
Employees are also stressed by a lack of a clear career path.
“They can’t see their next career move, because there is no next career move,” Thomas E. Kennedy, president, Human Resource Consultants told Crain’s Chicago Business.
Others are just plain fed up with needless hassles and management they do not respect.
Harold S. Dahlstrand, a human resources consultant for the Dahlstrand Group, “We have so many poor managers . . . and they create the environment. A lot of managers don’t know
how to value, respect, empower and treat their people.”
Moderator’s Comment: What are your thoughts on the state of employee happiness and what it means for employers as the job market improves?
The issues affecting pay don’t simply have to do what you’re earning. The sick corporate culture that so many employees work in tells them they are valued
while paying them pennies compared to the millions paid to the company’s chief executive.
In retail, we’re always hearing how associates are the company’s most important asset. Is there an associate on the planet who thinks that is anything more
than talk for public consumption? [George
Anderson – Moderator]