More people don’t like their jobs than find them satisfying. According to a report listed in My Way News, only 45% of American workers find their jobs satisfying. That means more than half aren’t happy working where they are. While the recent recession kept people from moving around and finding new work, the trend toward diminishing job satisfaction has been occurring now for at least a couple of decades.
And why not? Employees are overworked and under trained. Working 60 hours a week is nothing anymore, and some employees work longer hours than that. That 40 hour work week seems like a thing of the past. Thanks to the economic downturn and the corporations trying to better their bottom lines, often staffs are downsized, causing extra burden and stress on the remaining workers. When workers leave, quite often their positions are not filled again, or at least not for quite some time. In a tight economy, and a very competitive global market. Everyone is trying to do more with less.
The fear is if the job dissatisfaction is not reversed, there will be a malaise. Workers will be less inclined to contribute. Older workers will be reluctant to pass skill sets to younger staff members. Innovation may decline. Teamwork will suffer. Workers don’t find their jobs challenging. Many find it stifling, boring, generally no place anyone wants to be for sixty hours a week.
This condition will most certainly lead to job churn. Whether there is practical viability in stepping from one job to another for greater challenges, that remains to be seen. The fact is, as the economy improves, workers will starting looking around for greener pastures, if not green jobs.
As we climb out of the recession, employers will be seeking to rehire or recruit new staff members. Other employers who lost workers now that the recession is ending, will need to replace these people with new employees. In any case, before hiring it is that much important to conduct background checks. You may be getting a treasure, or you may be hiring someone’s dead wood. Background checks can help you sort out the difference.
If your employment candidates have been out of work for awhile, you want to conduct the kind or preemployment screening program that helps determine not only their proficiency and skill sets at their old job, but what they have been up to during time they were laid off. You want to check criminal records and see is they got themselves into trouble, check their education verification to determine if they went back to school, got another degree, finished a degree, or obtained valuable certification. This is all important stuff.
So, as the economy improves, plan your job recruiting program. Expect to see some departures with even key employees making for your door. Let’s face it, with more than half our workers claiming they are dissatisfied with their jobs, chances are you have a few in your work place.
Whatever you do, check them out before you hire.
