Survey finds major differences in work satisfaction between occupational groups

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In early 2003, the Spanish Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs published the results of its 2002 Survey of Quality of Life at Work (ECVT). It finds that workers are generally fairly satisfied with their working conditions, but if the figures are broken down by occupational groups they show considerable differences between the higher categories (such as management) and the lower ones (such as unskilled workers), and between different sectors of activity.

Each year since 1999, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales, MTAS) has conducted a Survey of Quality of Life at Work (Encuesta de Calidad de Vida en el Trabajo, ECVT). The findings of the 2002 survey were published in early 2003. The ECVT, based on a questionnaire survey of people in employment, seeks to assess workers' perceptions of their working and employment conditions. For the purposes of the survey, indicators have been drawn up to assess'quality of life at work' on a scale ranging from zero to 10 (zero indicates extremely poor working conditions and 10 excellent working conditions).

Main findings

In general, the level of_satisfaction with work_ in 2002 stood at 6.69 out of 10, which is fairly high, though slightly lower than the 6.8 found in the 2001 survey: (ES0203206F). The reasons that the respondents put forward for feeling satisfied with their work indicate some differences between the sexes:'enjoyment of work' was mentioned more by men (27.1%) than by women (24%), whereas'companionship' was cited more by women (13.9%) than by men (9.6%), as was'good working time' (6.4% men, 9% women). By sector of activity, workers in the education sector had the highest average level of satisfaction (7.23 points), whereas domestic staff had the lowest (5.65 points).

The most common reasons for_dissatisfaction with work_ in 2002 included'poor wages' (22.9% of respondents),'bad hours of work' (18%), the'onerousness of the work' (10%) and'lack of job stability' (7.3%). All these reasons increased their scores in comparison with 2001.

In general,work content was perceived as'attractive' or'interesting', scoring 6.73 out of 10, and with 61.9% of the employed respondents describing their work in this way. By occupation, there were great differences in this perception between scientific and intellectual technical and professional staff (8.39 out of 10) and unskilled workers (4.50 out of 10).

The overall rating of monotony and_boredom at work_ was 3.4 out of 10. Men have more boring jobs than women, the level of monotony of work decreases with increasing age and the level of boredom decreases as the level of education increases. By occupation, the members of the armed forces and unskilled workers are those who consider their work to be most boring (18.6% and 18.2% respectively were'always' or'often' bored), whereas scientific and intellectual technical and professional staff (5%) and public and private sector management (7.1%) are those who consider their work to be least tedious.

Some 76.6% of the respondents were satisfied with the_physical environment_ of their work, and with the_health and safety_ conditions (only 7.3% were explicitly dissatisfied), which contrasts with the high industrial accident rate in Spain, which has risen over the past nine years (ES0212205F,ES0211103N). However, an important feature is that 30.1% of the respondents stated that they'always' or'often' work in stressful conditions, against 32.9% who felt work-related stress'sometimes' and 36.3%'almost never'. The average rating of_work-related stress_ was 4.68 out of 10. By occupations, those that suffer the highest levels of stress are those who work in mining industries (6.28 out of 10) and scientific and intellectual technical and professional staff (5.83 out of 10), whereas the lowest level of stress is found among skilled agricultural and fishing workers (3.57 out of 10) and domestic staff (2.16 out of 10).

Work organisation tends to score well, and 68% of the respondents were generally satisfied with it in their company. However, this percentage was slightly lower than in 2001 (when it was 70%). Satisfaction with the average level of participation of wage-earners in the work they do scored 5.44 out of 10, which is a relatively low value. By occupation, public and private sector management show the highest levels of satisfaction with their level of participation (90.7% were satisfied), whereas unskilled workers are least satisfied with their participation in the decisions that concern them (only 30.9% are satisfied on this point).

The average level of_pride in their work_ of the respondents was 7.51 out of 10, which seems fairly high. However, identification of workers with their company does not tend to mean that they accept its problems as their own. In fact, 36.1% of women and 28% of men did not consider the problems of the company to be their own (and another 24.7% of women and 22% of men felt indifferent towards them). These figures indicate a major contradiction that places in question the identification of workers with their companies.

Only 37.2% of the respondents stated that their company provides_continuing vocational training_, and most also stated that they do not always participate in this training (only 23.5% said that they do). Some 84.1% considered the vocational training they have received in their company to be'very' or'fairly' useful for carrying out their work. By occupation, public and private sector management are those who most value the usefulness of the training they have received (97%), whereas administrative staff and skilled workers are those who least value it (75%). Almost 60% of the respondents suggested that their possibilities of promotion bear almost no relation to the training they have (or that they may acquire).

With regard to_labour mobility_, 30% of the respondents were still in their first job, whereas the remaining 70% had changed jobs. The most common reasons for changing jobs were'economic improvement' and'professional promotion'. More women than men were in their first job (34% and 26.8% respectively). Furthermore, 23.4% of the respondents were currently working in a different region from the one in which they were born (including 5.9% who were born outside Spain).

Finally, with regard to_family life_, most of the respondents (60.4%) were married or living as part of a couple with children. The other most common family models are workers who are married or living in a couple without children (12.7%) and single-parent families (8.6%). It is noted that 43% of employed women do the housework mainly alone, compared with 6% of employed men.

Commentary

The 2002 ECVT figures are coherent with those of previous years, so in general the tendencies can be considered to be consolidated. There is a generally high level of satisfaction with work, though the levels of participation are perceived to be low. However, it should be borne in mind that this is a survey conducted using a questionnaire on perceptions and opinions, applied to a sample that is socially and culturally very diverse, which may raise certain doubts concerning the unanimous nature of the responses. This would explain apparent contradictions such as the enormous differences between in the figures for those who feel pride in their workplace and for those who feel the company's problems to be their own, and the fact that the great majority (almost 80%) of the respondents feel satisfied with the health and safety conditions, whereas over a third of them feel stress. It is also curious that workers in the education sector are those who show the highest average level of satisfaction with their work, because this is one of the groups that suffer most from psycho-social problems ('burn-out', stress etc), according to other reliable sources. It could be suggested that either some of these figures are incoherent or the workers perceive their work situation as normal from the viewpoint of health and safety when perhaps objectively it is not.

When the figures are broken down, they show a more complex reality. For example, though the average level of satisfaction seems to be relatively high, it is not distributed equally among all workers. Significantly, public and private sector management are those who show the highest average levels of satisfaction and those who most claim to be very satisfied in their work (61.9%), whereas unskilled workers are less satisfied with their work (35.3%). As seen above, most of the variables show highly differentiated values when they are broken down by occupation. This shows the existence of profound inequalities with regard to (the perception of) working and employment conditions between different levels of occupation and different sectors. (Josep Espluga, Department of Sociology, Autonomous University of Barcelona)