Thursday, February 10, 2011

Job Satisfaction is it getting better?

What is the latest greatest on the status of job satisfaction in the working world as we focus on a new year? There continues to be on-going questions and studies on the subject. Clearly job satisfaction means differ things to differ people. What some may consider essential to job satisfaction could be deemed totally unimportant to others. However, there are measurable attributes that many would consider to be at a minimum critical to enjoying their place of employment. Job satisfaction attributes that you consider to be important may not be equally crucial for somebody else. However, the following are some of the attributes you should consider when doing a self assessment.

• Do you enjoy what you do for a living
• Are you making what you consider to be competitive salary with opportunities for promotion/increase
• Do you enjoy your place of work and amount of balance it provides for other life goals
• Do you feel you are recognized and rewarded appropriately
• Do you enjoy the people you work with and for
• Do you feel your commute is reasonable

Job dissatisfaction usually is visible in one or several of the above areas resulting in excessive stress, lack of desire to go to work, impact to performance resulting in higher than acceptable loss work days due to illness, boredom, lack of energy and drive. These potential performance implication drive employers to spending time and money to determine what improves job satisfaction and what steps can be taken to leverage it to ultimately improve the performance of their employees.

Job Satisfaction: Satisfied With Your Job?

What are leading employee satisfaction surveys saying about job satisfaction for the year 2010 that only about 45% Americans are satisfied with their jobs and nearly 64% people under 25 years of age are not interested in their work! Probably, these statistics may be scary but the matter of fact is that this data is holistic and dependent on several factors. These are some pretty high numbers consider the population of the workforce and the need for on-going performance improvement in the marketplace to maintain a competitive position. While a number of the factors are understood it doesn’t change the fact that a high percentage of people get up every morning to a job the are not happy with but don’t feel they have an alternative to making a living. This reflects a society that on any given day makes an effort to do their best under less than optimal circumstances. The point is that realistically we may not all being able to find and obtain that perfect fit but it is up to us to make the best of what we do find if it helps us to meet our needs. In sports I believe the term is push through it and give it your very best because who knows it may be just a stepping stone to one day doing the thing you love.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Respect on the job (Boss, company, product line and market)?

What does respect look like on the job. Many of us believe respect requires us to give up our values, integrity and peace of mind. This could not be farther from the true because if you make a sacrifice of this magnitude you may appear to respect your situation but over time you will loss respect for yourself. Remember the adage respect is not given, it is earned. So how do you earn respect on the job? It is important to role model the behaviors you want from your employees and co-workers. If you want employees and co-workers to follow your lead you need to be a good leader. Establish and engage your them in a clear and concise vision for the company. Recognize and reward them for their contributions to the mission of the organization so that the benefit’s of doing the job well is in the fore-front of their minds. Build on the teamwork by using examples of successful teams and accomplishments. Encourage your employees to grow and develop themselves beyond their current skills and abilities. Promote a positive attitude while keeping it real with the successes and opportunity for growth and development in the people and the organization. As in all things you must approach it with standards, or in other words where do you draw the line with regards to your social and moral values. We all have to live with ourselves there is really not much choice in the matter. To that end when respect requires you to allow your boss, environment or conditions of your job to be a constant stress factor in your life, then there is something wrong with that definition of respect. For many employees respect takes on the form of closing their eyes to self and picking up a pay check every pay period. While this may feel like the right thing to do in these times it probably is not the healthiest approach for the long term.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

How Would You Rate Your Job?

How do you motivate your employees to consistently give their best job performance? A question every employer with a mindset to achieve the highest level of productively from their workforce must strive to answer. The ability to create a work environment where people truly love their job is no small feat. A number of forums have sprung up as a result of the ease of using the internet to tap into social opinion. There is actually a site where you can post an anonymous review of your place of work (Jobvent.com). It allows you to rate your company using a list of attributes that provide a pretty strong indication of weather you love or hate your job and why. Using the following list of attributes you rate your feelings about them as it applies to your place of work. If you look at each one it becomes apparent as to how they relate to job satisfaction or dis-satisfaction. Salary leads the list do you feel you are paid enough for what you do. While there are few people who would turn down a raise or an increase in pay this is by no means the cure all for creating a work environment where people thrive. I have actually met people during my career that have reached a place where money is not a motivator for them to give their best. They want a work environment where they are challenged, respected and surrounded by people that take joy in taking an organization to the next level. For others a work life balance is critical to their well being. The idea of working 7 days a week, 12-15 hours a day is a complete turn-off. Then there are those that desire career opportunity and growth because a sense of continued learning and building on their skill base is both energizing and exciting. Job security has always been pretty high on the list but in these days and times many employers are finding it difficult to promise this as a benefit of employment. Why might it be a good idea to spend time rating your job? The fact of the matter is that having a job you hate should not be a long term goal. It is not healthy for many reasons and tends to impact every aspect of your life. On the other hand if you have a job you love it might be a good idea to rate why because nothing is more constant then change. What would have to remain the same in a new job, for you to still love your job? It is a good thing to know because with success there is usually change some good and some not so good. What if your promotion took you to a new location, different career path, less job security, a negative impact on your work life balance? All these things need to be considered as you climb the corporate or career ladder, if loving what you do is important? So it might not be a bad idea to rate your job weather you hate or love it and give a little thought to what is your next move.


Banner (468x60)
banner

Banner (468x60)
Des-01-468x60banner

Being Happy in Your Job has Benefits (Work & Home)

Employee satisfaction is at its lowest level in 22 years, according to a recent survey by the Conference Board. We are at a time when a little more than half of the full-time employees polled say they enjoy their work. This suggest a very high number of people who for one reason or another don't enjoy their job. While this is almost a none issue for those currntly un-employed and would be happy to have any job, it still presents a hugh problem going forward for employers and employees. The saying of leave home at home and work at work just doesn't completely play out in the real world. While a majority of the people gainfully employed understand the need to display professional behavior in the workplace, if they want to keep their job, that is not enough to cope with total dis-satisfaction in what you get up to do 5-6 days a week. You are only human and over time it tends to have some pretty serious consequences in your health, personal life and overall well being.

While there is convincing evidence that happiness at work has a measurable impact both on overall satisfaction with life and work perfomace. The truth is that every job is not going to excite you to successful behavior on the job and prvide total job satisfaction. If you are able to achieve happiness in your job it usually goes without saying you will also have a positive impact in your performace and life overall. Resulting in extra energy and productivity that should ultimately lead to further happiness due to positive recoginition,advancement and promotions.

Banner (468x60)
banner

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Job Satisfaction - If you are happy and you know it!

The reviews are mixed on the overall job satisfaction in the United States at this time, based on your research you will find it at its lowest or about flat compared to times prior to this recessionary period. What are the elements that most job surveys address when attempting to determine the state of a person’s enjoyment of their job or career? They cover a wide spectrum with some being salary, boss to subordinate relationship, commute, benefits, environment, co-worker relationships and flexibility. While all these and other factors play into a persons overall job satisfaction it really comes down to what inspires you to embrace the ones that being you joy, and work on improving the ones that don't? This is not to say that it is easy to achieve but with focus and attention to detail you may be able to determination those factors that "float your boat" as they say and what if anything you can or need to do to improve or maintain them in the list. The next essential step in maintaining and improving your job satisfaction is looking at the areas that without improvement will continue to deteriorate your sense of joy in the workplace. As in all areas of life it usually takes effort to being about change and after accessing each of the areas that result in it being harder and harder to go into work each day you have to take steps to make a change to improve the situation. The answer is not always finding another job because as we know the grass is not always greener and this is an extremely difficult job market so holding on to the job you have is probably at least the best short term strategy. Secondly if you don't determine the root cause for why you are unhappy there is a good chance it will follow you to the next job and the next. A key factor to consider when attempting to determine your job satisfaction is life satisfaction and if you are unhappy in general it is going to be very difficult for any one area of your life to fix the whole. For many it all comes down to finding the right balance in your life as a whole to improve your joy in your job, home and community.

Looking for a work from home opportunity check this out! Click on the link "click here" or post this to your address line to hear more:

http://6779da113vdo4nejk9jgwbwk4a.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=1234

Click Here!

My Zimbio


Banner (468x60)
banner

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Love My Job….Not

With un-employment being at its highest rate in decades you might think those that are gainfully employed would have no complains, however that is just not true. Even in hard times there is job dissatisfaction. It really doesn't matter if you are working for a friend, family or a major corporation. There are few rules of the road that say there are something’s you avoid or never say in the workplace.


It\\\'s A Job


Personal Blogs - BlogCatalog Blog Directory

It was Just A Joke

In better times you might have sat around the table in the lunch room cafeteria at work and expressed all matter of feelings about the job, workplace and leadership as a joke more than anything else. It was expressed meaning no harm, just idle conversations; you jokingly might have said things like that is not my job or my problem! Sometimes the test is that if the shoe was on the other foot would you be laughing. Not a good idea!