Job satisfaction good despite stress at work

Italian workers show high levels of satisfaction with their jobs but complain about excessive stress at work, poor relations with their superiors, and the burden of internal bureaucracy. These are among the main findings of the 2002 Democratici di Sinistra (DS) work enquiry. Although the DS enquiry did not follow formal survey methodologies, the results are consistent with findings in other surveys, and cast further light on reasons for the current Italian economic decline.

The 2005 publication, Il lavoro che cambia (Changing work ), edited by Carrieri, Damiano and Ugolini, summarises the results of an enquiry launched in 2002 by Democratici di Sinistra (DS), the main centre-left Italian party, by means of its local organisations, newspaper and related websites. More than 22,000 completed questionnaires were collected through various channels: most from workplaces, while more than 3,000 were filled in online.

The survey design did not follow a formal survey sampling methodology: the Centre-North of Italy, employees, the public sector and manufacturing are over-represented, corresponding to the constituency of DS. A section of the questionnaire was devoted to quality of work issues, such as job satisfaction, pay and job security, while wider scope was given to labour market and political issues.

Some 79% of respondents reported that they were satisfied with their job, very close to the results of the third European working conditions survey (EWCS) (77.7%). Results from the Quality of Work Survey (QWS) carried out by the national agency for training, Isfol (IT0503SR01), show that 90% of respondents were ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ satisfied, while the European Community Household Panel for Italy (Istat, 2004; 1.2 Mb pdf; in Italian) shows that only 70% of respondents were satisfied with their job.

The DS enquiry also found that, while women generally earn less than men, there are no significant differences in levels of job satisfaction between the sexes. Company size positively affects earnings but has a negative impact on job satisfaction.

Negative factors in working conditions

The main negative factors concerning the changing work environment are reported to be stress (45.7% of respondents), and organisational issues such as internal bureaucracy (25.3%) and the pressure of management demands (21.4%). These have displaced the previous dominance of physical health factors, such as health risks and physical fatigue, as highlighted in the various surveys by the research institute Isvet in 1971 and 1981 among manufacturing workers, and inquiries by CESPE (Centro Studi di Politica Economica) and PCI (Partito Comunista Italiano).

The findings from the DS survey indicate that women suffer more than men from stress, intense pace of work, physical fatigue, difficulties in work relations and job insecurity, while men complain more about bureaucracy, poor relations with superiors and health risks (Table 1). This reflects both vertical and horizontal segregation and also the distribution of the household burden within families: women claimed to devote more than two hours per day to domestic tasks three times as often as men did (55%, compared with 18%). Moreover, 40% of women report not having any prospects of promotion (compared with 33% of men), and 50% earned less than €1,000 per month (compared with just 27% of men).

Source: Carrieri, Damiano and Ugolini, 2005

Differences by occupational status

Figure 2 illustrates the differences in working conditions by occupational status. Managers are more likely than others to report suffering from stress; while professionals/technicians and clerks report excessive bureaucracy and poor relations with superiors; and ordinary workers suffer more from work repetitiveness and physical fatigue.

Four groups were identified by means of a factor analysis:

• the first group (21.7% of respondents) scored highest regarding complaints about relationships with superiors and colleagues, as well as citing internal bureaucracy: these are mainly professionals/technicians and clerks, and tend to be concentrated in large companies;
• the second group (19.1% of respondents) complained most of repetitiveness, changes in job position and in work schedules or shifts: these are mainly workers in large companies;
• the third group (23.7% of respondents) scored highest regarding pace of work, stress and job insecurity: these are mainly managers and self-employed workers, including economically dependent workers, who show high levels of satisfaction. However, also included in this group are low-skilled ‘marginal’ workers, who do not perceive any prospect of improving their working conditions;
• the fourth group (35.4% of respondents) had high scores in terms of physical fatigue and health risks: these are mainly permanent workers in small companies or non-permanent workers, and they also reported feeling excluded from training opportunities offered by their companies.

Job alienation

The survey investigated working conditions further by means of the Blauner scales of alienation. Poor economic reward (reported by 45.2% of respondents), lack of opportunity to participate in work organisation (38.4%), and difficulty in maintaining a good work-life balance (37.1%) are the most widespread forms of alienation. Men suffer more than women from a lack of opportunity to intervene in work organisation ( 3.8 percentage points) and to influence management decisions ( 2.8 percentage points); while women feel greater demands than men regarding time management and their workload, as well as job insecurity.

Source: Carrieri, Damiano and Ugolini, 2005

Istat (2004) and Isfol (2005) surveys follow a different strategy. They investigate satisfaction levels both in general and with respect to different items, but a strict comparison is possible only on earnings. Compensation (63.3% satisfied) and work perspectives (57.7%) are the least satisfactory issues in the Isfol QWS, while, according to Istat’s ECHP 1999 panel, only 17.4% of respondents report being satisfied with their pay. Overall, the latter survey reports lower satisfaction for all items, compared with the EU average, especially regarding working time and commuting time. The third EWCS shows lower levels of work-life balance among Italians than the EU average (74.8%, compared with 80.4%).

The results of the DS enquiry concerning training and education are similar to those of the Isfol QWS. However, it is surprising that job satisfaction scores are closer to Istat’s 2004 figures than to the QWS: this may be due to the telephone survey methodology of the latter, whereas face-to-face and self-compiled methodologies are more similar and likely to yield closer results.

Commentary

This enquiry cannot be termed a survey because of the lack of statistical design, and the fact that it was not fully representative. However, most of its results are consistent with other contemporary surveys, and it casts light on certain aspects of working conditions not included in Isfol’s QWS.

Italian working conditions seem to be characterised by a mixture of modern time demands, inducing high levels of stress, and a traditional work organisation, which breeds bureaucracy and difficult relations with superiors and collegues. Companies have not updated their organisation and human resource policies to meet the new competitive environment, which may partly explain Italy’s current economic decline. Nevertheless, negative physical work factors have been considerably reduced, compared with results of the 1971 and 1981 Isvet surveys.