Top Reasons for Job Dissatisfaction: Stress, Pay & Benefits

As you gather information in choosing a career, these recent Gallup polls may give you some perspective and suggest work issues worth researching further:

• 48% of Americans are “completely satisfied” with their jobs, and 42% more are “somewhat satisfied.”
• 57% of older workers (55+) were “completely satisfied” as opposed to 42% of younger workers (18-34)
• Large majorities of people are dissatisfied with job-related stress, pay, retirement plans, promotional opportunities, and health benefits.
• Over half of Americans (51%), particularly low to middle-income people, feel they are underpaid.
  

I was surprised at the level of job satisfaction, although Gallup cautioned in its analysis that people appreciate their jobs more in difficult economic times. But unsurprisingly, job-related stress, pay and benefits (amount of vacation time, retirement, health) top the list for creating dissatisfaction.

As you weigh the pros and cons of your career options, include these top three issues. Pay is always on everyone’s list of important career information, but job-related stress may be under your radar.

When you talk with someone about their career, make sure to ask them about how stressful their job is, and what factors cause stress. Is it a supervisor or employer that can be changed, or is it in the nature of the work? For example, a research scientist may need to seek financial support from the federal government through grants every 2 years. Having one’s job security or project depend on this kind of funding may be stressful. But people handle this type of pressure in different ways – how does the person you’re interviewing handle it? How do you think you might handle it?

Learning more about the negative aspects of a career and deciding how you will deal with them, before you make a choice, will help you avoid joining the ranks of the dissatisfied later.