Amidst ambiguity one thing is certain: Your workforce is not satisfied

 

Was it just a week ago we were cheering the year-end highs of the Dow Jones and the healthy drop in the unemployment claims?

The headlines today have a gloomier cast.

US growth prospects are bleak for the next decade, says Reuters, reporting from the annual American Economic Association meeting this Sunday.

House sales – which were making a comeback – are likely to fall again, says the National Association of Realtors.

One thing is for sure: there’s no shortage of opinions about when, how and if the economy will make a turnaround.

“If the Great Recession has indeed relaxed its grip on American life, it has been replaced by something that might be called the Great Ambiguity,” where lack of consensus and uncertainty reign supreme, says Peter Goodman of the New York Times.

Reading the tea leaves of the market aside, there is one headline that cannot be ignored and speaks loud and clear:

“US Job Satisfaction at Lowest Level in Two Decades”

This came from The Conference Board, which released its annual report on job satisfaction levels today:

• in 1987 job satisfaction was 61% and it has steadily declined since then; today it’s at 45%
• 22% of respondents did not expect to be in their current job in a year
• all age groups and income brackets showed levels of dissatisfaction

Perhaps most surprising is that these falling dissatisfaction scores do not appear to be tied to market cycles – through good times and bad, workers have grown increasingly unhappy, says the Conference Board.

This means companies cannot assume an economic upswing will result in more engaged, more satisfied workers. Re-engaging and reinvigorating your workforce is not optional – and it needs investment today.

We’re here to help. Next month is our annual Employee Engagement Conference, February 23-25, 2010, and we have best-in-class companies detailing how they’ve made engagement a priority and reaped the rewards. Here's a look:

• NetApp, IKEA, Exterran and others show how social media can make an impact on engagement.  
• ConAgra Foods outlines the bottom line impact of the company’s engagement efforts.
• Juniper Networks uncovers the power of storytelling to drive meaningful connections between employees and bring about engagement.

These companies and others like them are not waiting for a new economic outlook to invest in their people – they are taking action. What are you waiting for? Find out more here.