The Autumn results of the CIPD’s Employee Outlook survey reveal that job satisfaction has dipped to a score of 37, compared with 48 in the summer and 46 six months ago in the spring. This survey comprises a representative sample of 2,000 UK employees; job satisfaction has decreased in all sectors and within all organisation sizes.
At the same time the proportion of people reporting they feel under excessive pressure at work has increased over the last six months; with 42% of employees feeling under pressure either ‘every day’ or ‘once or twice a week’ compared with a figure of 38% in the spring. More employees also said they have seen increases in stress and conflict at work.
Of course, a major reason for these gloomy results is likely to be the recession. However, it’s worth remembering that the recession was already affecting many workers in the spring, so what’s behind the delayed impact it has had on morale? Claire McCartney, the CIPD’s resourcing and talent planning adviser suggested:
“In the spring we interpreted high job satisfaction in the face of the recession as a ‘fixed grin’, where employees felt lucky just to have a job. In this quarter, the fixed grin is slipping and the temporary goodwill is being replaced with increasing frustration.”
Enjoying work is difficult in the face of increased stress and unmanageable workloads, especially when this is combined with factors such as faltering job security, frozen pay, reduced benefits and cut-backs in training. This survey underlines the importance of having a resilient workforce: for employees and employers alike, the fixed grin won’t work over the long-term and only real resilience, underpinned by high levels of psychological well-being, will do.
Resilience is a personal capability that can be developed – it is driven by both our personality and skills. It has many facets, including our confidence, our purposefulness, the extent to which we are able to adapt and the social support mechanisms we can access. When an individual understands these aspects of resilience and where their own natural strengths and skills lie it can help focus personal control, as well as how he/she engages with the business. In turn, organisations need to ensure they are co-ordinating efforts to build, develop and maintain resilience across the board – by taking a strategic view of people development and encouraging the right kind of leadership. If that happens we may see the CIPD reporting better job satisfaction scores in the Spring.
