More than half of the Australasian workforce hates their job or have an indifferent attitude to it, according to a survey conducted on behalf of Leadership Management Australasia (LMA).
LMA’s L.E.A.D. (Leadership Employment & Direction) Survey for 2011 found the almost 60 percent of staff that gain no real satisfaction from their job was a contributing to factor to Australasia’s languishing productivity.
“A predominant percentage of the workforce is performing at a level of personal productivity below their capability,” said Grant Sexton, LMA managing director. “There are just too many people with a ho-hum attitude, too many just going through the motions and dragging the chain.”
The attitude revealed by the survey is also connected to the 20 percent of the workforce looking for a different role, he said.
One in six respondents indicated they hated their job but stayed because they had to earn a living. This figure included 17 percent of business leaders and senior managers, 15 percent of middle and frontline managers and 16 percent of other employees.
The major factors contributing to role dissatisfaction for leaders and senior managers were:
- Lack of work/life balance;
- Difficulties associated with finding and retaining good staff; and
- Higher staff turnover.
Sexton said it was important that organisations engaged senior staff to ensure a positive trickle-down effect to retain key talent.
“With Australia facing overall skill and talent shortages for the future, we can’t afford to have such high levels of disengagement and low workplace commitment,” he said. “Not only are organisations suffering in the area of productivity they are also still shouldering the added cost of staff turnover.”
The L.E.A.D. survey, conducted three times a year, is a study of workplace trends and issues involving more than 3,500 respondents throughout Australia and New Zealand across 17 industry sectors. The survey is in its 11th year.
For further details on the study’s results, see LMA‘s L.E.A.D. survey website to subscribe.
