In a 2010 job satisfaction survey of 5,000 households, the Conference Board found that 45 percent of respondents said that they are satisfied with their jobs, down from 61.1 percent in 1987, the first year the survey was conducted.
The report noted that real average household incomes grew at an annual rate of 2.0 percent in the 1980s, 2.1 percent in the 1990s andhas fallen by 0.2 percent since 2000.
On a positive note, the report found that “Americans still like their coworkers, though not as much as they did when the survey began. Respondents rank their fellow employees as the second most satisfying aspect of their jobs (their commute is ranked the most satisfactory aspect). And 50.6 percent remain satisfied with their supervisor, though this is down from 60.1 percent in 1987.”
Ways to Increase Job Satisfaction
The Conference Board report provided recommendations to employers to stem this negative job satisfaction trend. A few of these are:
- Provide employees with rotational assignments to break any perceived monotony and recharge their appreciation for their jobs.
- Provide work assignments that exercise employees’ intellect.
- Focus attention on the impact of the work employees perform on the entire team, the department, their business unit and the entire organization, offering employees insights into why their particular jobs are important and how their specific efforts make a difference.