Workers Say Management Is a Major Gripe : Survey Shows Only 23% Complain About Pay

A majority of Americans are happy with their pay and benefits but are much less satisfied with the management of their companies, a recent private survey says.

The study conducted in May and June by Wyatt Co., an international consulting firm, attempted to measure employee attitudes about a range of work-related issues includings wages, job security, workers’ commitment to their jobs and their impression of senior management’s performance.

Workers were asked to agree or disagree with characterizations about the various topics as applied to their own jobs, and the responses were graded as favorable and unfavorable for each broad category.

When asked to rate their salaries on the basis of several criteria, about 53% of those surveyed responded favorably, while 23% responded unfavorably. About 61% responded favorably overall about benefits, while 18% gave unfavorable ratings.

Employees also rated their physical work environment well, with 61% responding favorably about their work space and 12% expressing concerns about it.

Don’t Understand Problems

Overall job satisfaction was high, with 70% responding favorably and 10% expressing dissatisfaction with their jobs. When asked about their commitment to their job, 53% responded favorably, while 20% responded unfavorably.

Questions regarding management got some of the most negative responses of the survey, Wyatt said. Only 39% gave overall favorable ratings when asked how they were treated by management above their immediate superiors, while 26% responded unfavorably.

“These lower ratings are not surprising,” Wyatt said. “When various aspects of work life are not satisfying, the ultimate responsibility for the state of the work environment tends to be attributed to management. More than four in 10 American workers feel management does not understand the problems they experience in their jobs.”

Only 38% of hourly workers and less than half of the salaried employees surveyed indicated that they felt management was concerned about workers’ well-being.

The study culled responses from 5,391 people who were selected randomly by telephone and answered questionnaires from Wyatt.