Dive Brief:
- A recent report by The Conference Board, titled Job Satisfaction: 2015 Edition: A Lot More Jobs, A Little More Satisfaction, found that job satisfaction is only seeing minor annual gains since the Great Recession of 2008.
- Those gains aside, it remains below the 50% mark and has yet to reach the 60+ percent levels reported in the 1980s, says the report.
- An article at Human Resource Executive explores the job satisfaction issue, offering some thoughts from experts about where HR leaders might focus in trying to combat this sluggish improvement rate within their workforces.
Dive Insight:
"The recession had a disproportionate impact on younger workers, who may have been pleased just to have a job at some point," Rebecca L. Ray, co-author of the study, told HRE. "Against this backdrop, there are also some who would argue that the standards went up during the recession period -- jobs that may once have required a bachelor's degree now require a master's degree. Up the ante, and of course you're settling."
Mark Royal, senior principal at Hay Group, told HRE that Hay Group found that around 75% of U.S. employees have positive views of the fit between skills and positions -- higher than reported in other countries, Royal said.
"One important driver of that fit is the climate for development in the organization," he said. "As we look across the period from 2008 to now, generally employees are more positive now than coming out of the Great Recession about opportunities for learning and development."
