Are They or Are They Not? Only Their Hairdresser Knows For Sure

Okay, that was a cheesy use of an old hair coloring ad campaign line. However, that's what it feels like when you look at job satisfaction survey results for similar periods:

• Only 19% are satisfied in a survey of 411 persons
• 81% are satisfied in a survey of 600+ persons with 38% being extremely satisfied (twice the other survey's results)
• Less than half are satisfied
• Just over half of federal workers are satisfied but the trend is heading in the wrong direction
• Pew Trust reports just about half of the workers are satisfied while two-thirds of the managers are satisfied. Their sample was 1300 people.
• 6 out of 10 teachers are dissatisfied and that has increased from 4 out of 10 in the last 5 years.

As confusing as the results are--especially the first two reporting for the year 2012--it's very disheartening if you're leading your organization. Except for one survey, nearly half of the people don't want to be there. They're only there to collect a paycheck. It's going to be hard to motivate half of your crew without making some significant changes.

What's also interesting about the last survey is that 1 in 8 bosses are looking for another job. That leaves about 1/4 of the bosses dissatisfied but hunkering down, not taking any action to leave. 1 in 4 workers are looking for other work. But that still leaves 1/4 of them too willing to hang around your organization, grumpy and disgruntled.

I hope your 2014 actually sees some differences. You might have to get radical in your approach. Check out some of the factors leading to dissatisfaction--and pay is not the only factor--and do something about it. As I've said before, I hope you're part of the ten-percent portion of the population that actually makes a change and sticks with it when you know you've got a problem. 90% of us don't change. Be different. Be radical.