Declines in Employee Job Satisfaction

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Please see response attached, which is also presented below. I also attached two supporting articles for consideration.

RESPONSE:

Let's take a closer look.

1. What are some of the explanations for the recent declines in employee job satisfaction?

There are mixed results concerning the reported explanations in the literature for the recent decline in employee job satisfaction, although there are some common threads. There are some discrepancies as well. Let's look at both.

According to most research, Americans (mostly worldwide) are growing increasingly unhappy with their jobs. This decline in job satisfaction has occurred over a period of two decades, with little to suggest a significant reversal in attitudes anytime soon. For example, according to Professor Green's (2005) findings (study done in Britain, but included other countries in the study, as well), in the US, there was a small downward trend in job satisfaction from 1972 to 2002. But the figures suggests that even over 100 years, it would only fall by 0.1 points - not much on a possible range of 1 to 4. (1) See attached articles for other percentages.

The main reasons for the decline in job satisfaction reported by the research by ESRC (2005) are:

· Having to work harder and act like 'robots , with little scope for personal initiative, are the chief reasons for declining job satisfaction... according to new research sponsored by the ESRC. (1)

Interestingly, ESRC (2005) dismissed feelings of insecurity, too high expectations and people being 'over-educated' and unable to find work to match their qualifications as factors, in the study led by Professor Francis Green of the University of Kent (Britain). (1). However, in the United States, feelings of insecurity (e.g., fear of loosing their job) is often high on the list for both motivation and job satisfaction. The motivated workers are the satisfied worker.

Research by the Conference Board (2007) suggests that today less than half of all Americans say they are satisfied with their jobs, down from 61 percent twenty years ago. This report is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households, conducted for The Conference Board by TNS, a leading market information company. Briefly, explanations for job satisfaction (or lack of it) according to the results of the above report that are related to age (e.g. people just entering the workforce and those under 25 are least satisfied); wage (e.g. less than 15,000 a year report being the least satisfied with their job); job location (certain states have reported the ...