Macquarie Institute Australia - Article Library

Article: We Like Our Work But Also A Whinge

Sydney Morning Herald, 14 Apr 2002
by Jim O'rourke, Workplace Reporter

MOST Australian workers are happy on the job but there are still hordes of grumblers in our shops, offices and factories.

At least 70 per cent of employees had a positive attitude to at least some aspect of their working lives, even though workplace experts have been telling us we are working harder and staying at work longer.

A report by the Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training at Sydney University took responses from 1,000 people on their feelings across 14 key areas including wages, discrimination, work satisfaction, career prospects, health and safety standards and workplace stress. (copy attached as PDF file.)

Gillian Considine and Ron Callus, authors of ``Quality Of Work Life Of Australian Employees'', found that about one in six workers was dissatisfied with aspects of his or her time at work.

They found one-fifth believed their pay was unfair compared with others doing the same work, 20pc worried about career prospects and a quarter distrusted managers.

The report said stress was usually caused by a poor balance between work and family responsibilities, lack of control over the way work was done, and subjection to harassment or discrimination. ``Those who were having trouble balancing work and family responsibilities felt under greater pressure at work,'' the authors said.

The amount of workplace dissatisfaction increased with the age of workers, the research suggested.

ON THE JOB

* 70pc of employees have a positive attitude to at least some aspect of their working lives.
* One in six workers is dissatisfied with aspects of his or her time at work.
* 22pc find their work uninteresting.
* 25pc are not happy with the balance between work and family life.
* Those earning more than $70,000 are more stressed than their lowly paid colleagues.

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