The CFO Coach

HOW HAPPY ARE YOU?

Recent stats from a Conference Board Report (aimed at senior business leaders) in “Fast Company” reports the following …

––Only 14% of US employees are very satisfied with their jobs

––25% say they are just showing up to collect a pay check

––66% say they can't identify with their employers business objectives

What about you? Send me an email (cindy@career-management-coach.com) and tell me how happy you are with your current job … and what you are doing about it!

WORK/LIFE BALANCE

Poor Work/Life Balance Undercuts Leadership: The United States has one of the highest rates of average annual hours worked per person in industrialized economies, according to the International Labor Organization, and U.S. workers log a median of 50 hours per week, according to 2004 Harris Interactive figures. Those long hours lead to more stress and an off-kilter work/life balance, and they can lead to lessened confidence in corporate leadership. That lack of confidence also can hurt a business’s bottom line, according to data ISR collected in 2004 and its poll of more than 50,000 U.S. employees at financially high-performing companies.

Among the findings:

* Employees reporting high stress levels and poor work/life balance said their leaders did an inadequate job of setting clear direction; only 63 percent gave their leaders a favorable rating.

* 68 percent ranked their leaders favorably in communicating important matters to employees.

* 79 percent ranked leaders favorably in encouraging cooperation.

On the flip side, among survey respondents reporting low stress levels and a strong work/life balance, 74 percent ranked their leaders favorably for setting direction; 75 percent ranked them favorably for communicating important matters; and 89 percent ranked them favorably for encouraging cooperation.

Managers who staff their departments sufficiently to handle the workload, distribute work fairly, allow schedule flexibility and are considerate of employees’ personal lives yield more satisfied customers, lower absenteeism, lower accident rates and increased revenue, ISR found in comparing its results to similar recent employee satisfaction studies linking workplace culture to key business outcomes.

(Reprinted from CMI E–bridge #278. Source: SHRM Study--Poor Work/Life Balance Undercuts Leadership; report by Kathy Gurchiek)

HAPPY WITH YOUR JOB?

A quarterly report on job satisfaction and dissatisfaction in the first quarter of 2005 from the report Hands on Research, published by Career Builder.com predicts the following:

* Healthcare is one of the leaders in job satisfaction. An increase in satisfaction from 62% to 71%; dissatisfaction remained at 7%. The biggest improvement was worker’s perception of how well senior management is leading the organization.

* Retail industry, with high turnover, showed a slight 5% increase in job satisfaction, and a drop of 5% in job dissatisfaction. Major concerns continue to be low pay, lack of advancement, and workload.

* Hospitality job satisfaction dropped by 5% from 50%, and job dissatisfaction increased from 17% to 28%. Pay, work/life balance, and career development were the biggest reasons for dissatisfaction.

* Government job satisfaction dropped slightly each quarter by 5%. Two major factors were career advancement and feelings that executive leadership was not meeting expectations.

* Sales workers showed a light increase in job satisfaction from 40% to 45%. Job dissatisfaction increased to 25%, with major issues being workload, pay, and work/life balance.

* Information technology job satisfaction dropped from 55% to 51%. Discontent with career development dropped from 41% to 33%, pay from 41% to 36%, and work/life balance improved from 29% to 33%.

* Accounting/Finance showed an increase in job satisfaction at 58% from 48%. Accounting/Finance workers report a more manageable workload but have a higher dissatisfaction with pay, 51% up from 42%. More than one-third are looking for better training and career development programs to grow professionally, up from 29%.

Reprinted with permission from Career Masters Institute Ebridge #276