Longer-term employees are far less positive about several aspects of their work experience compared to colleagues hired within the past two years, according to a survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Ominously, the survey finds that the dissatisfaction of the longest-tenured workers is aimed at both their bosses and overall company management.
Only 53% of workers on the job 15 years or more told Mercer they agreed that "employees in my organization are treated with dignity and respect regardless of their position and background." In contrast, 75% of the newer workers agreed with the statement.
Less than half (49%) of the longest-tenured workers agree with the statement: "Managers in my organization demonstrate concern for the well-being of employees." That compares with 66% for employees who have been on the job two years or less.
According to Rod Fralicx, PhD, a principal in Mercer´s St. Louis office, a "satisfaction gap" did not always exist between veteran staffers and the newer workers. "In the past, employee satisfaction levels would tend to start strong, drop steadily until about the 10- to 12-year marker, and then climb until they reached the level of the most recent hires. That´s no longer the case and that shift has implications for many organizations."
The 2005 What´s WorkingTM survey, conducted by Mercer in the first quarter of this year, reflects the thinking of a representative sample of workers employed by more than 800 organizations across the US. The survey is part of an ongoing effort to capture contemporary perceptions of work and to develop scientific norms that Mercer´s clients can use as they design, implement, and communicate their human resource strategies and programs.
While the survey found short- and long-term employees agreeing in some areas - having similar levels of pride in working for the organization and having their work give them a feeling of personal accomplishment - C-suite executives will take little comfort from some of the other findings:
- Only 44% of the employees who have been on the job 15 years or more agreed that "My manager does a good job of setting work objectives." A much larger proportion (63%) of the newer workers agreed with the statement.
- Fewer than six in ten (58%) of the longer-term workers agreed that their manager "encourages open and honest two-way communication." In contrast, some 79% of the newer workers agreed with the statement.
- When asked if their manager "supports flexible working arrangements," only 35% of the veteran staffers said yes as opposed to 57% of the newer workers.
Dr. Fralicx thinks the problem of longest-tenured employees feeling slighted is rarely addressed and often confused with the much more visible, but different, debate over what to do about older workers. "Many of these long-term workers were hired while in their twenties and are not necessarily on the brink of retirement," he says.
According to Dr. Fralicx, companies with unhappy longer-term employees risk being branded as organizations where loyalty does not matter. "These employees have paid their dues and now may feel slighted by their boss and by upper management. And a lot of these people are wondering just how committed the company is to them, and in return, how committed they still are to the company."
"There are implications for employers when workers no longer feel respected and may even feel betrayed," Dr. Fralicx explains. "Companies need the long-tenured employees to be ambassadors to the rest of the population. They need them to stay productive, engaged, and committed to the organization."
Respondents to Mercer´s 2005 What´s Working survey completed a 148-item questionnaire, including nearly 100 items that provide a comparison against Mercer´s benchmark 2002 What´s Working survey, and over 50 new items tapping further into today´s organizational concerns.
Mercer Human Resource Consulting is the global leader for trusted HR and related financial advice, products, and services, with more than 15,000 employees serving clients in more than 190 cities and 41 countries and territories worldwide. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., which lists its stock (ticker symbol: MMC) on the New York, Chicago, Pacific, and London stock exchanges.
Mercer provides communication consulting services in the areas of strategy development, change processes, HR program implementation, research and diagnostics, and e-communication, with an emphasis on delivering measurable returns on clients´ communication investments. Mercer´s communication consultants serve about 2,500 clients around the world through a network of almost 300 consultants.
