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Subscribe by EmailMiddle Management Job Dissatisfaction Presents Opportunities for Recruiters and Companies That “Get” Current Human Resources Issues
Numbers from an Accenture survey of middle managers tell the story:
- Only 48% of 225 middle managers polled were highly satisfied with their employers, down from 67% in the same study in 2004 .
- Those dissatisfied nearly doubled to 15% from 8%.
- A third described their companies as mismanaged.
- 56% and 55% were pleased with working conditions and benefits, respectively.
- Only 38% felt their employers dealt with flexible scheduling poorly or in the worst possible way, and 36% gave the lowest marks to training.
- Only 28% said their companies were good or excellent at prospects for advancement.
- 30% are looking for a new job, up from 21% last year.
- Nearly 60% would consider changing jobs.
Wall Street Journal: “Ready to Bail? Job Satisfaction Plunges Among Middle Managers”
Can anyone say “passive candidate”?
As described more subjectively in the Journal article, middle managers’ angst can’t be cured by throwing money at them.
It derives from the fact they don’t perceive their companies “as well managed, well run, as companies they would aspire to have a long-term career with.”
They feel torn between front-line workers looking for more input and opportunities and senior managers driving them hard to achieve financial gains. “They’re feeling more and more like they’re being squeezed by senior managers pushing hard to get results and by lower-level people saying ‘Show me you care about me, invest in me and develop me for the future.’”
“They just are not getting the sense there’s a plan, that there’s a consistency about how things are being handled, managed and communicated so they can have the confidence that whatever happens that is negative in the organization is going to turn around.”
Need I explain this post’s title?
It’s practically a roadmap to management recruiting. Seize the day and snap up the best of those dissatisfied managers.
Seek out the best active and passive candidates, while working hard to address current human resources issues and adopt progressive HR practices and modern management practices, including clear promotion paths, various forms of employee feedback, and improved flexibility and employee training and development.
Demonstrate to managers that they will be “in the loop,” on company strategies and that the employees they will supervise are valued and treated well.
Above all else, show that the company “gets it” about the value of human capital and views good human resource practices as a bottom line contributor and investment, not an unwanted overhead cost to be squeezed.
Finally, to keep good employees, take the Journal’s closing advice: “take seriously the possibility of greater dissatisfaction resulting in higher turnover . . . ; people do absolutely feel like there are more options today than there were a year ago.”
Photo credit: pulpolux via flickr
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