If you had to guess, how many of the people who work at your organization would say that their jobs are ideal for them?

Gallup asked 18,000 U.S. adults this question in January. Survey says: 70% think their jobs are ideal.

While that number is higher than I would have expected, the breakdown of the data provides fewer surprises. For those whose annual household income is less than $12,000, 57% said their jobs were ideal, a pretty high number for minimum wage jobs. At the top end of the scale—those making more than $120,000—77% say they have the ideal job. I guess the remaining 23% are just in it for the money.

Business owners topped the list of people who think their jobs are ideal (87%) with farming/forestry/fishing a close second. The bottom five are manager/executive at 68%; sales/retail at 64%; manufacturing/production and clerical/office at 61%; and service at 60%. In other words, pretty much anyone who works in a cubicle, manages people who work in cubicles, or stands for hours on a retail sales floor or a production line, which sounds like most of the workforce.

The older you are, the more likely you think your job is ideal. Seventy-eight percent of people 50-65 years old said so while only 52% of workers age 18 to 29 years agreed.

Education is a mixed bag. Those who had done postgraduate work ranked highest (77%), while those who completed some college were lowest at 63%—a full seven percent lower than those who had less than a high school diploma. Any theories on why that’s the case?

Click on “Seven in 10 U.S. Workers Say Their Jobs Are Ideal” (Jenny Marlar, Gallup, March 1, 2010) to see all of the data.

To read more about employee satisfaction and engagement, click on these articles:

• Increasing Employee Satisfaction in a Time of Decline
• Why HR Needs Baldrige
• Bottom-Line Value of Employee Engagement
• 10 Steps to a Successful Workplace
• Employee Engagement and the Bottom Line

(5 votes, average: 4.40 out of 5)

 Loading ...