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Rewards, Vacation and Perks Are Passé; Canadians Care Most About Cash
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Forget corporate credit cards, concert tickets, priority parking spots and extra vacation time. When it comes to choosing a job, many Canadians are looking for cash. A recent Canada Speaks survey by Sympatico / MSN found that four in ten (39%) Canadians rank salary as the most important consideration when looking for a job, followed by a good location (13%) and flexible hours (10%). However, rewards and perks (3%) and vacation time (2%) trailed far behind.
Interestingly, although Canadians don’t consider vacation time a priority when looking for a job, when asked about their current workload, their responses suggest they would welcome more leisure time. Four in ten (41%) ‘find it difficult to balance their work time and family time’, six in ten (61%) ‘wish they could work fewer hours’, and four in ten (38%) feel burned out by their work load.
Despite the workloads, some Canadians are very happy with their career choices. In fact, almost three in ten (28%) say they are working in their ‘dream job’. The survey also indicates almost all Canadians have a soft spot for their supervisor, with 78% admitting they ‘love their boss’.
Still, most Canadians don’t want work to be the central part of their life. Seventy-two per cent prefer to ‘work to live,’ while one quarter (24%) agree that work takes a more dominant place in their lives, and that they ‘live to work’.
The survey also found that some Canadians are contemplating career moves. Three in ten (28%) are thinking about changing their current job, but staying in their field while a similar margin (29%) want to make a more drastic move and are thinking about changing their entire career choice.
When searching for a new job, perhaps Canadians will look back to their career aspirations as youth. The most popular career choice for Canadians growing up was a teacher (21%) followed by an actor/singer (13%). Specifically, Women were more likely (30%) than men (12%) to want to become a teacher while men were more likely (12%) than women (2%) to want to become an astronaut.
These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted from July 20 to July 24 via a regionally representative online Canadian sample of 3061 adult Canadians. The survey was conducted online. With a sample of this size, results for each wave are accurate with +/_1.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire Canadian adult population been polled. These data were weighted to ensure the sample’s regional and age/sex composition reflects the actual Canadian population according to Census data
About Sympatico / MSN
Sympatico / MSN is Canada's most popular online destination, with more than 19 million unique visitors* experiencing its information and communication services each month. Offered in a strategic alliance between Bell Sympatico and Microsoft, Sympatico.MSN.ca brings together Bell Sympatico's Web content and broadband services with popular web services for MSN, including Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Spaces and Live Search. The site gives Canadians easy access to the tools and services they love to use. Bell Sympatico is Canada’s leading Internet service provider and Sympatico.MSN.ca delivers exclusive content to Sympatico High Speed Internet service subscribers, while Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Spaces are the country’s most used instant messaging, web-based email service and social networking services.
* comScore Media Metrics, May 2007*