CNN.com - Career - Success beyond dollars: Survey cites satisfaction first

Show me more than the money

By Porter Anderson
CNN Career

(CNN) -- "It's not all about a paycheck." So representatives of staffing company Randstad North America characterize newly released results of an annual survey, the Randstad North American Employee Review.

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Nine of 10 workers asked said "true success" is about being trusted to get the job done.

Opportunity -- defined as "getting the opportunity to do the type of work you want to" -- was cited as the next most highly valued factor among study respondents, 84 percent of them ranking it just after trust in importance.

Autonomy -- "having power to make decisions that affect your own work" -- was next, with an 81-percent ranking.

At the center of the 2001 results, as Randstad's analysts interpret them, is a message that most employees want a career show to show them more than just the money.

And at a time when the traditional loyalty of an employee to a corporation -- and of that corporation to its employees -- has all but collapsed in the "Free Agent Nation" that Daniel H. Pink writes about, 57 percent of respondents to Randstad's survey said they still think of their job as a career.

Forty percent characterized their work as "just a job."

Flexibility and training

Flexibility figured strongly into the mix for respondents, too. The sort of flexibility being addressed in the study is defined as leeway in when or how employees get their work done.

Sixty-seven percent of those asked said flexibility is part of their definition of success in the workplace.

Sixty-four percent said a balance between work and personal life is a high priority.

The same percentage of the respondents said success holds the same significance for them.

"More than 80 percent say that receiving training that increases their skills and abilities is a key component of what they are really looking for in their jobs."

2001 Randstad North American Employee Review

"The majority of employees" questioned -- some 57 percent, according to a report from Randstad -- "say they are very satisfied with the type of work they do and (coming in at 54 percent) their own skills and training. But fewer employees are very satisfied with their current job (50 percent), the company they work for (49 percent) or the way their career is going (43 percent)."

A certain age

The 2001 Randstad North American Employee Review was conducted by telephone and online. Its results are drawn from some 2,600 interviews conducted with people 18 to 65 -- respondents either are working or say they plan to enter the work force within the next decade.

And nearly six in 10 respondents to the survey said they'd like to have an employer offer career planning.

Randstad is putting a lot of its emphasis on some age-related results gleaned from its survey.

Eighty-one percent of survey respondents aged 55 and older indicated that they're interested in trying new things. This, Randstad officials say, runs counter to the assumptions of many employers that older workers are set in their ways and cling to the "one job for life" mentality.

"Men are more likely than women to perceive they have a career. Older workers more than younger workers. Higher-income workers more than lower-income workers. College graduates more than people who did not attend college. Executives more than white-collar workers. And white-collar workers more than blue-collar workers."

2001 Randstad North American Employee Review

Seventy-seven percent of the respondents age 21 to 35 -- and thus classified as being members of Generation X -- said they see success as finding a company at which they'd want to work for a long time. This, Randstad's staff points out, tends to run counter to the assumption that Gen-X workers are job-hoppers.

Seventy-three percent of the Gen-X group of respondents said they saw finding work with more opportunity as a high or moderate priority. Randstad's analysts, in this instance, say they see a trend counter to the concept of Gen-Xers being relatively unmotivated -- a point made frequently by "Winning the Talent Wars" author Bruce Tulgan.

Among interesting results gathered from Generation Y respondents: Seven of 10 questioned said that being friends with co-workers is a priority for them. And their group was particularly high on the independence-trust point, some 90 percent of those asked saying they see success as being trusted to get a job done.

Randstad's managing director, Daryl Evans, characterizes the mission of the Employee Review as making it possible for employers to "increase employee satisfaction and better understand work-force issues.

"In turn," Evans says, "satisfied employees will improve customer service and lower employee turnover, which have a positive impact on a company's bottom line."

The Internet-interview part of the Randstad study was conducted through DMS, the online reach practice of America Online, which with Time Warner is part of the parent company of CNN.com.

Prestige Review

CNN.com - Career - Success beyond dollars: Survey cites satisfaction first

Show me more than the money

Flexibility and training

A certain age

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