When Spherion set out to survey
the U.S. work force on a variety of workplace topics
throughout the year, we had no idea of the
answers we’d receive,” says Erik Balkan, district director for Spherion Staffing Services.
“The American worker has proven to have
strong opinions about everything from dating
coworkers to blogging about their employers
to listening to iPods at work. Some of those
opinions were surprising, some were not —
but all help us to better understand what
makes the workplace work.”
Smart Business asked Balkan to share
some of the more interesting responses to
the Spherion workplace surveys. Following
are highlights.
How common is romance in the workplace?
More than four of every 10 workers (42
percent) said that, if they were single, they
would consider dating a coworker, but a
third (34 percent) said they would not.
Could be because almost 40 percent think
it would jeopardize their job security or
their chances for advancement.
Meanwhile, not even half of workers (44
percent) trust their Human Resources
departments to keep private the details of a
problem they may have.
Are most workers happy with their ability to
balance work and a personal life?
Almost 80 percent reported that their
employers do not offer most of the programs that can help employees achieve a
better balance between work and personal
lives. There were no programs for telecommuting (79 percent), job-sharing (79 percent), sabbaticals (77 percent) or paid time
off to perform community service (82 percent). And only 57 percent said their
employers offer flexible working hours.
The result? Forty-two percent of workers are not satisfied with the work/life balance programs their employers offer and
a third (33 percent) aren’t happy with
their ability to maintain an acceptable
work/life balance.
Despite the absence of these desired company programs, most workers (74 percent) are happy with their own bosses. More than
half (52 percent) would refer their friends to
work at their company — and 23 percent
would receive a bonus from their employer
in appreciation for the referral.
What is the current status of workplace
ethics?
One-third of workers (34 percent) report
witnessing unethical activities in their
workplace, but more than half (53 percent)
say they are not likely to report or are
undecided about reporting such activities.
Almost three-quarters feel it’s wrong to
take supplies from their workplace for personal use (71 percent) and have not done
so (69 percent).
Almost half (49 percent) say they don’t
think it’s acceptable to use their work computers to shop for holiday gifts online or to
purchase them online at work, and they
walk the talk — with more than half (54
percent) saying they don’t do their online
shopping at work.
Is the summer vacation still alive and well at
work?
The majority of workers (67 percent)
planned to take a summer vacation in 2006 — and a true vacation, at that, with the
same number reporting that their employers do not expect them to check e-mails
while on vacation.
Forty-two percent said that a relaxed
summer dress code was important to them
and 45 percent got their wish as employers
allowed relaxed dress codes during the
summer months.
What else are workers up to these days?
Nearly a third of workers (32 percent)
listen to iPods, MP3 players or similar
devices at work — with 79 percent saying
it improves their job satisfaction and/or
their productivity.
While only 5 percent of employees blog
about their employers and only 6 percent read blogs about them, social networking sites are gaining traction.
Almost one-fifth of workers (19 percent)
would post their resume on MySpace,
Facebook or Friendster for employers to
see. A third (33 percent) admitted they
would remove certain existing content
on their sites if they knew employers
could see it.
Workers told us that 58 percent of their
employers hold an annual holiday party,
but it’s only important to 57 percent of
workers and only 46 percent feel obligated to attend. This endangered party
animal may be giving way to gestures
that employees appreciate more — such
as a little extra free time off, year-end
cash bonuses or gift certificates, and
some of those other work/life balance
programs employees said they’d like to
have.
At the end of the year, 21 percent of
workers said they changed jobs voluntarily last year, which is consistent with
previous surveys. Considering the high
cost of employee turnover, this trend
has significant implications for employers, which will be explored in a future
article.
ERIK BALKAN is district director for Spherion Staffing Services
in the Atlanta area. Reach him at [email protected] or
(404) 250-0009.