American Workers No Longer See Their Jobs as a 'Labor of Love'

MELVILLE, N.Y., Feb. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- While the unemployment rate has started to show a slight decrease to 9.7%, and as companies appear to be shedding fewer jobs, there's increased belief that the worst of the recession is behind us and that the country is on the road to recovery. Tied to this movement, however, is heightened speculation that the year ahead may bring about a renewed "war for talent" and that the job market will start to see a shift in power from employer to employee. One of the key factors that could jumpstart this transition is employee attitudes towards their current jobs – that is, are American workers still in love with what they do or are they looking for a change?

According to the annual online Valentine's Day American Workplace Insights Survey from Adecco Group North America, part of the world's largest recruitment and workforce solutions provider conducted by Harris Interactive, attitudes have shifted from a year ago as fewer U.S. workers (1) (72%) love their job just as much or more now than they did in 2009 (78%). In fact, only 39% feel the economic situation has caused them to appreciate their jobs more – a significant dip compared to more than half (55%) of workers feeling this way a year ago. In addition, workers' acceptance to work harder to avoid layoffs (17%) and willingness to work longer hours (19%) are slightly fading compared to 2009 (20% and 21% respectively).

Additional survey findings include:

• Gen Y is Nervous and Falling Out of Love with their Jobs: More than a quarter (26%) of Gen Y workers are nervous about the instability of their job and 27% love their job less than last year, nearly a 10% jump over the 16% who felt this way last year.

• Younger Generations are Inclined to Go Back to School: Gen X and Gen Y workers impacted by the economic situation feel that loving their job is less important to them today than it was a year ago (17% and 18% this year versus 14% and 21% in 2009 respectively). In fact, 20% of Gen X and 17% of Gen Y workers are thinking about going back to school.

• Monday Brings More Indifference than Excitement: Keeping with 2009 trends, only a small percent (11%) of workers dread the beginning of the work week while 19% say that they are excited to get going. Workers do, however, appear closely divided between an appreciation to have a job at the start of the week (38%) versus a general indifference (31%).

• Gen X Most Likely to "Do Over" their Career if They Could: If workers had the option to start their careers over again, about half (51%) would change their current profession, particularly Gen X workers. Fifty-six percent of them said they would start over compared to only 38% of older adults "Silent Generation."

• Less Appreciation and Confidence in Management: Similarly to 2009, workers' perception of company leadership continued to wane as only 7% of workers noted the economic situation had positively impacted their confidence in their executive team versus 90% in 2009. Additionally, there's less appreciation for bosses as only 10% of workers appreciate their boss more in 2010 as a result of the economic situation versus 16% feeling this way last year.

"As America recovers from a tough economic climate in 2009, those who survived the recession may be questioning if they still want the same job or career when employment opportunities rebound," said Joanie Ruge, Adecco Group North America senior vice president. "In 2010, I think we're going to see business leaders start to get a little more aggressive – thinking about and consciously deciding when to shift to a more optimistic, opportunistic employment stance. That shift is going to be critical for employers who want to attract and retain the best, strongest talent. Likewise, for candidates today who may be looking to shift careers or experience, they may want to consider applying for temporary and project-based jobs that can shift their career in the direction of higher growth opportunities."

Adecco Group North America provides the following tips for employers as they prepare for a potential shift in the job marketplace:

• Open the Door to Communicating with Employees: Employees may have less confidence in leadership because they don't feel like they have a voice into the C-suite.  This is demonstrated when an organization's leadership create a collaborative work environment and regularly solicit for both formal and informal feedback which help to inform operational shifts and changes.  The best employers keep their staff informed and embrace an open door policy through forums such as town hall meetings, open conference calls, regular email communication, newsletters, etc. – helping to drive employee confidence and productivity. 

• Make Retention a Top Priority Now: Behind the scenes, managers may be doing what they can to retain their employees, but staff won't feel valued if these efforts aren't visible to them. Retention efforts begin through mutual dialogue and building trust. Managers should engage their employees in the realities of the business challenges to foster employees' understanding of the market and competition. Employers should also consider mapping out a growth plan for employees and communicate it to their teams. Employees will then understand that managers are invested in their future and they'll be more confident in investing their time and career with the organization.

• Explore Opportunities to Recognize and Reward: Employees' feelings may be waning about their employers because many companies have experienced salary freezing or asking their workforce to work harder with fewer staff support.  Companies should explore ways to creatively recognize and reward employees through alternative means – potentially either through an awards program or team contest. Improving morale just by recognizing good work can help ease compensation complaints. In addition, gestures of appreciation – a thank you email/note, recognition during meetings, a small gift card or surprise pizza lunch, can be impactful and effectively demonstrate appreciation for hard work and dedication.  Being more creative with these sorts of rewards can help improve employee morale while continuing to be financially responsible.

About the Adecco Group:

The Adecco Group, based in Zurich, Switzerland, is the world's leading provider of HR solutions. With over 29,000 FTE employees and more than 5,800 offices, in over 60 countries and territories around the world, Adecco Group offers a wide variety of services, connecting more than 500,000 colleagues with over 100,000 clients every day. The services offered fall into the broad categories of temporary staffing, permanent placement, outsourcing, consulting and outplacement. The Adecco Group is a Fortune Global 500 company.

Adecco S.A. is registered in Switzerland (ISIN: CH0012138605) with listings on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ADEN) and on Euronext in France (ADE).

About Adecco Group North America:

Every day we provide our clients with the talent they need, and help solve the business challenges they face today – and will encounter tomorrow. Our clients rely on us for a wide range of workforce solutions including:

• Contingent staffing and direct hire recruitment for large enterprise organizations across all skill sets
• Workforce solutions and consulting including Managed Services Programs (MSP) & Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)
• Career transition and leadership consulting
• Specialty staffing, project solutions and consulting services

Additional information is available through our websites at www.adeccogroupna.com and www.adeccousa.com.

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us – and our clients – stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

About this American Workplace Insights Survey

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of Adecco from February 3-5, 2010 among 2,075 adults ages 18 and older of whom 1,074 are employed full time and/or part time. Results were weighted as needed to reflect the composition of the U.S. adult population. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology and results please contact Vannessa Almeida.

(1) For the purposes of this survey workers have been defined as U.S. adults ages 18+ who are employed full time and/or part time.

SOURCE Adecco Group