Company Chiefs Prefer People Over Paper

Who has worked for his current employer for less than a decade, lives south of Costa Mesa, controls the area’s economic future, hates paper work but likes people?

The friendly neighborhood CEO.

Nearly 200 of these high-ranking executives were interviewed in the last quarter of 1987 as part of UC Irvine’s second annual Orange County Executive Survey, an ongoing longitudinal study of the perceptions of this county’s movers and shakers.

One of the main findings released Thursday dealt with

executives’ job satisfactions. Of the 190 interviewed, the largest number enjoyed the softer side of their jobs most: “building a team” was the most satisfying part of the job for 16% of the respondents, and “working with good people” was a major joy for an additional 15%.

In addition, “planning” and “people” were the executives’ highest priorities, with 30% of those interviewed assigning top priority to planning and 42% to people. In contrast, only 5% felt that paper work was a priority, and 26% said that paper work was

the part of their jobs they liked least.

“Paper work is something they don’t control or see as useful,” said Jone Pearce, associate professor of management at UCI and director of the survey. “All the other things help them make forward progress. . . . It’s something somebody else requires of them. It doesn’t get them anything more in terms of getting their jobs done.”

The study also showed that 25% of the executives interviewed had worked for their current employer for five years or less, while 29% had spent six to 10 years with their current company. In addition, 50%

of all respondents live in the South County, where just 24% of county residents as a whole lived.

The “executive compensation” section of the study revealed that, unlike their counterparts nationwide, Orange County executives received 63% of their remuneration as base salary, 17% as bonuses and lesser percentages in benefits, company stock and perquisites.

Nationally, executives receive only 39% of their remuneration in the form of base salary. Company stock comes in second as 23% of executives’ compensation. Bonuses and benefits tie at 17%.

Executives’ Compensation United States 1986* Base salary 39% Bonus 17% Benefits 17% Long-term compensation** 23% Perquisites 4% Orange County 1987 Base salary 63% Bonus 17% Benefits 7% Long-term compensation** 5% Perquisites 8% ** Predominately company stock * Source: Hewitt Associates, April, 1987 What do you like best about your job? Building a Team 16% Working with Good People 15% Autonomy 12% Creative Challenge 12% Variety 11% Having Long-Term Impact 8% Achieving Objectives 7% Power 7% Other 12% What do you like least about your job? Paper work 26% Managing People Problems 25% Investor/HQ Relations 10% No Dislikes 8% Long Hours 8% Travel 5% Cost Control 5% Other 13% Executives’ Priorities

Priority Activity Actual Time Spent Planning 30% 24% People 42% 34% Coordinating/Administrative 11% 18% Customer/External Relations 10% 4% Optimize Profits 7% 0% Paperwork 0% 5% Hands-on Operations 0% 11% Travel/Other 0% 4%

Source: UC Irvine Annual Orange County Executive Survey Where County Executives Live Executives’ Residence West 8% North 21% Central 12% South 50% Outside Orange County 9% General Orange County Residence* West 24% North 34% Central 18% South 24% Outside Orange County not available *Source: Orange County Annual Survey, December 1987., STEVE NELSON / Los Angeles Times