In general, there´s close agreement between the views of the C-level executives and lower-level executives whom we surveyed on a wide range of workplace issues. There is, however, one significant area of divergence, and it revolves around money. There´s more interest at the C-level in quantifying the dollar-and-cents value of each employee while SVPs and below are more concerned about their own dollars and cents - and achieving a work-life balance.

While profit per employee is overall the third most important HR metric that our survey panel tracks, bottom-line-oriented C-level executives are especially interested in it. They value it more today than do lower-level execs, and that disconnect will only become much more pronounced in the future as companies increasingly focus on people metrics linked to business goals and better connect the dots between budgets, productivity and revenue.

                                                    While C-level executives and their lieutenants are closely aligned in ranking core attributes of the corporate environment - culture, brand and training - as key elements of an ideal workforce, there´s a great divide when it comes to more personal issues that involve workplace flexibility and individual beliefs. Job sharing and the availability of day care and elder care, for example, are much more important to SVPs and below. Perhaps that´s because they don´t have as much latitude, professionally and financially, as C-level executives do in striking a balance between life at the office and at home.

As a further reflection of the importance of personal priorities, SVPs and below are more concerned than occupants of the c-suite about influencing health care reform. Given the high cost to companies of health-care benefits, this is striking but understandable when layered against the value that less highly paid executives attach to work-life, pocketbook issues.