Share the Wealth

bh IN BRIEF

Despite Canada's strong economy, and shortages of skilled labour that put employees in the driver's seat, job quality has not changed. There are significant gaps between what people value, and what they experience in their current job. The biggest gaps are over pay, trustworthy senior management, job training, and having a healthy and safe workplace. Employees most value a workplace free of harassment and discrimination, a healthy and safe workplace, and trustworthy senior management.

Employers that want to attract and retain skilled workers need to ensure high-quality jobs and work environments are in place, and that these factors are deliberately addressed by human resource strategies, policies, programs and practices.

Graham Lowe, one of our Advisory Board members, is well known as one of Canada's foremost experts on the workplace. Through the Canadian Policy Research Networks (www.cprn.org), Dr. Lowe has just published a major study, 21st Century Job Quality: Achieving What Canadians Want.

In just the first few days, 17,000 copies of the report were downloaded from the CPRN site, and articles appeared in at least nine major urban daily newspapers. Two important questions were investigated:

Has economic prosperity resulted in improvements in job quality?
Can improvements in job quality contribute to sustainable economic prosperity and Canadians' overall quality of life?

Thirty-one job quality trends were examined. Of those, 12 improved, 10 declined, 7 were stable, and the effect of two were uncertain. The net effect: no change in job quality.

Dr. Lowe's 2004 Rethinking Work survey also examined the gaps between what people value, and what they were currently experiencing. The average gap was 21%, with importance always exceeding what the current job was delivering. Four characteristics had gaps over 30% – pay, trustworthy senior management, job training, and a healthy and safe workplace.

Among a number of conclusions drawn from reviewing published studies and literature, as well as statistical modeling, three stand out:

Workplaces that provide employees with ongoing learning and development opportunities are more likely to be productive and innovative.
Trust-based relationships, especially between employees and their supervisors and senior management, contribute to higher employee commitment and performance.
The major job factors contributing to higher employee satisfaction are intrinsic (i.e., the nature of the job, including autonomy, relationships, interesting work). The economic (extrinsic) aspects (pay, benefits, etc.) contribute less to satisfaction, but they are "table stakes", and can be a source of dissatisfaction.

Considering our unusually long-running economic expansion and well-documented human resource shortages and engagement challenges, why hasn't job quality improved?

Well, several indicators are better, showing that positive change can be implemented. But too little progress has been made even when there has been plenty of pressure and opportunity to do more.
An economic downturn will appear at some point, and this doesn't augur well for job quality when profits tumble, jobs disappear, and investments slow to a trickle.

The second research question about national prosperity is more important. The evidence and modeling in the report indicate better job quality is likely to return higher productivity and better overall quality of life. In other words, such investments have big payback in the longer term, essentially creating corporate goodwill that can be drawn upon when times so demand.

The discussion related to what employees report they need and expect is very important, and the hardest to tackle. Teasing out the things organizations can do to build and reinforce "intrinsic" motivation is not done over a lunch or by naming an employee of the month. Beyond production or financial metrics, managers need the training, corporate permission, and incentives to provide and be held accountable for outcomes more consistent with employee needs and preferences.

This report on job quality provides more information than most of us can absorb and apply. But there are important insights to be gleaned, adapted, and implemented…with benefits for all. The last words belong to Dr. Lowe: "…the quality of work environments matters for employee well-being, organizational performance and sustainable economic prosperity.

The Most Important Job Qualities

The top seven features identified as "very important" by the 2,002 respondents in the 2004 Rethinking Work survey:

A workplace free of harassment and discrimination (73% very important).
A healthy and safe workplace (72%).
Trustworthy senior management (70%).
Work-life balance (63%).
A sense of pride and accomplishment (62%),
Adequate job training (60%), and,
Pay (58%).

There were no significant differences by age group or gender.