JetBlue flight attendant Slater example of how employee satisfactionimpacts company performance

[caption id="attachment_11247" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Jetblue airplane"][/caption]

SAN DIEGO -Carol Forsloff - The real story
behind the Steven Slater - JetBlue episode is the finding that happy
employees are the key to organizational success and that his action
might serve as a warning to American corporations.

In the prosperity years, corporations in down-sizing and tightening up, while still shipping work to other companies, also began to demand more and more work.  The average work week became longer, the job satisfaction less.

A survey in 2007 shows how much more time Americans are required to spend on the job, half a day more than they did in 2002.

A survey reported in May 2010 shows Americans less satisfied with jobs than ever, in that only 45 percent revealed they were happy with their jobs compared to 49 percent last year.

This compares with these 2007 results of an opinion survey by the National Opinion Center at the University of Chicago about job satisfaction:

" Respondents who were -

• Satisfied with their job: 86%


• Very satisfied with their job: 48%


• Very dissatisfied with their job: 4%


• Age 65 or over satisfied with their job: 71%


• Age 29 or under satisfied with their job: 42%


• Holding “prestigious” jobs and satisfied: 57%


• Working at the lowest earning jobs and satisfied: 35%


• Earning $12,500 or less and satisfied: 40%


• Earning over $110,000 and satisfied: 68%"

The drop in job satisfaction added to increased hours and responsibilities adds to worker stress and the tendency to act abruptly, according to mental
health experts.

The American Psychological Association hosted a symposium this week during which researchers presented their findings in a variety of health and lifestyle concerns.

One of the questions answered during the symposium has to do why someone would give up a regular paycheck to leave a job in the dramatic way Slater didby cursing over the microphone about his disgruntlement with passengers, in his position as a flight attendant, then pulled the shute, deplaned and went home.

One guys frustration, in other words, may be a sign of the times.  A new report in Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, takes a look at the Slater episode and indicates what he did may be a sign of trouble for companies.

James K. Harter,   psychological scientist at Gallup, Inc. and his colleagues found employee perceptions of work conditions may negatively impact the
bottom line of businesses.

This was discovered in researching information from more than 2,000 companies of different types.  What the researchers found is if employees perceive their jobs positively, their organizations benefit by higher employee retention, customer loyalty and higher earnings. 

“One implication is that changes in management practices that improve
employee perceptions of specific work situation variables will increase
business-unit outcomes, including financial outcomes,” the authors note.

Harter and colleagues also suggest managers can boost productivity and earnings by
clarifying " expectations for employees by helping employees see the
ultimate outcomes the organization is working to achieve and how they
play a role in achieving those outcomes.”