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What do workers want?

An agenda for the workplace from the workplace

What do workers want?

An agenda for the workplace from the workplace

Executive summary

This TUC poll of almost 3,000 workers (excluding the self employed) commissioned from YouGov shows that workers - whether or not they are union members - think that unions provide vital protection for people at work and want unions to take up issues with employers and government very much in line with current union campaigning priorities.

• Most people are satisfied with their jobs, but around one in four is neither satisfied with their job, nor would speak highly about their organisation as an employer. Nearly six million workers in Britain are dissatisfied with their jobs.
• Almost one in three workers (30 per cent) say their organisation does not fully engage them and less than half (46%) the workforce agree that their employer deserves their loyalty.
• The top attributes that people look for in a job are fair pay, working with great people and the chance to learn new skills. The biggest gaps between aspiration and reality are for promotion opportunities, fair pay and the chance to learn new skills.
• The commonest problems that people report at work gather into three groups:
• - Pay - just under half the workforce say that their pay has not kept up with the cost of living (42 per cent) and significant proportions say that their workplace has unfair pay structures (26 per cent) or they do not get the same pay as people doing similar jobs for other organisations (31 per cent).
• - Workloads, stress and hours - the biggest complaint is of an increased workload (46 per cent), with 39 per cent complaining of increased stress levels and 23 per cent of longer working hours.
• - Training and progression - 30 per cent complain of poor promotion prospects and 27 per cent say they lack training - almost 7 million.
• Those who are dissatisfied with their job in general report much higher levels of boring, repetitive work, little opportunity to progress and a lack of training - a significant group of the workforce are stuck in boring dead-end jobs.
• 3.5 million people are bullied at work.
• The poll asked about the issues that unions should raise with government and with employers.
• - The top issue that workers - whether union-members or not - want unions to take up with government is more protection for the low paid facing exploitation from the worst employers. This is followed by a range of issues close together: compulsory employer contributions to pensions, more rights and opportunities for workers to learn new skills, action to close the gender pay gap, more flexible working and an end to child poverty. These are all priority issues for the TUC, and shows that the TUC does indeed speak for people at work.
• - The top issue that workers want unions to take up with employers are the traditional bread and butter union issues of pay, pensions and safety. This is followed by workload and stress, access to training and equal opportunities issues. But all the issues asked about - including making the workplace more environmentally friendly, a relatively new issue on union agendas - were backed by both a majority of union and non-union members.

Introduction

This report is based on a comprehensive poll of almost 3,000 people at work in Britain (excluding the self-employed) conducted for the TUC by YouGov in July and August 2008. All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,857 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 28th July - 8th August 2008. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+), trade union members and non-trade union members. Its purpose was to find out what workers think is good and bad about their jobs, and what they want employers, unions and government to do to make them better. Detailed figures are available in a pdf.

The result is an agenda for the workplace from the workplace.

Modern workplaces and today's workforce are very diverse. The issues for someone in a low paid monotonous job in food processing are likely to be different to those working in a well-paid but stressful job in finance. We therefore commissioned a large sample so that we could look in detail at subgroups within the working population. This means, for example, we can compare the attitudes of those with different skill levels and different wages. We also split the sample by respondent's attitude to their job so that, for example, we can compare those who are happy with their job with those who are dissatisfied.

We are naturally particularly interested in the views of trade unionists, as our job is to represent them, and non-members because we would like to recruit them. We therefore boosted the numbers of trade unionists within the sample to give us confidence that the poll can accurately measure both groups' views, (although naturally all results for the workforce as a whole have been weighted to accurately represent the make-up of the working population).

This report presents the highlights from the survey and comments on its results. Raw data from the poll is available at www.tuc.org.uk/whatdoworkerswant

What do people think about their job and their employer?

Most people are generally satisfied with their job and more people than not are committed to the organisation they work for, feel it deserves their loyalty and would speak highly about it to people outside their organisation. But a significant minority (around a quarter) are clearly unhappy at work and lack commitment to their employer.

Six out of ten workers (60 per cent) either tend to agree or strongly agree that they are satisfied with their job, although less than one in five (18 per cent) strongly agree - so there is room for improvement in most workplaces. But this leaves one in four of the workforce (24 per cent) who either tend to disagree or strongly disagree that they are satisfied. This means there are more than 5.5 million dissatisfied workers in Great Britain.

We also asked whether people feel committed to the organisation in which they work, whether they would speak highly to others about their organisation as an employer, whether their organisation deserves their loyalty and whether they feel fully engaged by the organisation they work for.

The results for these questions were fairly similar to that about job satisfaction, but each produced a slightly less positive answer than the one before as the table overleaf shows. Perhaps most worryingly nearly one in three workers - more than 7 million - do not feel fully engaged by the organisation they work for and less than half (46 per cent) feel the organisation they work for deserves their loyalty. Drilling into the figures shows that only two thirds of those who are satisfied with their jobs are fully engaged or think their organisation deserves loyalty. This suggests there is a significant group in the workforce who may enjoy their job but don't feel any great commitment or loyalty to their current employer.

	%	Thousands of workers
I am satisfied with my present job
agree	60	14,852
disagree	24	5,882
I feel committed to the organisation for which I currently work
agree	57	14,067
disagree	22	5,347
I would speak highly to people outside the organisation about my organisation as an employer
agree	51	12,565
disagree	24	5,884
I feel the organisation I work for deserves my loyalty
agree	46	11,424
disagree	27	6,710
I feel fully engaged by the organisation I work for
agree	43	10,648
disagree	30	7,444

Which groups are dissatisfied with their jobs?

Part-time workers tend to have slightly more positive attitudes towards their job than full-timers, and women are more positive than men. The part-time workforce is of course predominantly female.

Against some stereotypes, those under 35 are more loyal, committed and engaged than those between 35 and 55, although the over 55s are similar to the young in their attitudes.

Perhaps not surprisingly, by far the most satisfied group in the workforce (84 per cent) are those earning more than £60,000. The least satisfied are those earning £10,000 to £15,000 (49 per cent). While those earning less than this are generally more satisfied, this is likely to reflect the large numbers of part-timers in these wage bands and that low paid full time workers are likely to be in the £10,000 - £15,000 band.

Workers in sales and customer service jobs are the unhappiest by occupation (38 per cent dissatisfied) and workers in Wales (28 per cent) are the most dissatisfied by region. The region with the most satisfied staff is the South West.

Union members are slightly more likely to be either strongly satisfied or dissatisfied with their job, and less likely to be in the middle ground.

This is perhaps not so surprising. Workers in the public and voluntary sectors - which have higher rates of unionisation than the private sector - are generally more satisfied, loyal and engaged than their private sector colleagues (even though public sector staff report higher levels of complaint about many individual issues).

While the poll does not explain why this should be, it probably flows both from the public service ethos in the public and voluntary sector and the result of many years of strong union organisation producing good terms and conditions of service on issues such as pensions and flexible working, despite current difficulties over public sector pay.

In contrast in the private sector unions often organise in sectors where there are many routine and less engaging jobs and sectors where workers need union protection against exploitation - so it is not surprising that there are also union members who are not satisfied with their jobs.

What do workers want from a job and do they get it?

We asked the sample about a range of things they might look for in a job, asking them both to say how important they were (on a 'very important', 'fairly important', 'fairly unimportant', 'very unimportant' scale) and to what extent their current job meets them (on a scale of ' a great deal', 'a fair amount', 'not a great deal', 'not at all'.) Our analysis here combines 'very important' and 'fairly important' to get a net 'important' figure and similarly combines pairs of responses to get 'unimportant', 'met' and 'not met' categories.

It might be expected that fair pay was the most important quality that people look for in a job (98 per cent) with 66 per cent saying that they enjoyed this, but the biggest gap between hope and reality was for 'opportunities for promotion and advancement'. This was important for 73 per cent but only enjoyed by 34 per cent - an 'aspiration gap' of 39 per cent.

The second most important thing people look for in a job is working with a great group of people, valued by 90 per cent - and largely met as 84 per cent express satisfaction with this.

Next came 'the chance to learn new skills'. This was valued by 87 per cent but only enjoyed by 55 per cent, meaning almost half the workforce (44 per cent or more than 10 million workers) say they have little or no opportunity to learn new skills.

Next, two attributes came close together in popularity, but one was much more likely to be met. 82 per cent say that having a say in how their work is organised is important, but only 52 per cent say they have this. Flexible working ('Flexible working patterns that allow me to combine work with other responsibilities and interests') is important to 81 per cent and enjoyed by 62 per cent - an encouragingly high figure, with women wore satisfied than men.

This table rates these attributes by the 'aspiration gap' - the difference between the percentage that desire an attribute and the percentage who say they get it. Opportunities for promotion and advancement is the biggest unmet need in the workforce.

Please indicate how important or unimportant each of the following are to you in your working life.	Aspiration %	Reality %	Aspiration gap %
Opportunities for promotion and advancement
important/met	73	34	-39
unimportant/not met	25	64
Fair pay
important/met	98	66	-32
unimportant/not met	1	33
Chance to learn new skills
important/met	87	55	-32
unimportant/not met	12	44
Flexible working patterns that allow me to combine work with other responsibilities and interests
important/met	81	62	-19
unimportant/not met	17	37
Having a say in how my work is organised
important/met	82	52	-30
unimportant/not met	16	46
Working with a great group of people
important/met	90	84	-6
unimportant/not met	9	15

The more detailed figures (available on the web site) provide further insights:

• The older you are the less chance you have to learn new skills (half the over 45s say they do not have proper opportunities) and the fewer opportunities for advancement and promotion you enjoy.
• The most satisfied with their pay are those who earn the most. Only 10 per cent of those earning more than £60,000 say their pay is unfair, compared to half (49 per cent) of those earning £10,000 - £15,000. The better paid you are the more satisfied you tend to be about all the factors asked. Even on flexible working where it might be thought there may be some limits to flexibility of senior staff, the most satisfied are those earning more than £60,000.
• Those with the highest levels of educational qualification have the most opportunities to learn new skills, and are generally the most satisfied with their jobs.

There is little difference in what those who are satisfied with their job overall and those who are not look for in a job, but as the table shows their experiences are very different. Their biggest complaint is not unfair pay but lack of opportunities for advancement, followed by lack of access to new skills and having a say in how their work is organised.

When we look at the difference between the generally satisfied and the generally dissatisfied, the biggest difference is the chance to learn new skills, followed by pay and having a say in how work is organised.

Job attribute	% of those satisfied with their job who say they do not experience this	% of those not satisfied with their job who say they do not experience this	difference
Chance to learn new skills	29	73	-44
Having a say in how my work is organised	32	72	-39
Fair pay	20	59	-39
Opportunities for promotion and advancement	53	86	-33
Working with a great group of people	5	34	-29
Flexible working patterns that allow me to combine work with other responsibilities and interests	29	52	-23

What problems do people have at work?

We asked people about a range of possible problems at work and whether they were 'an issue where I currently work', 'This is not an issue where I currently work, but has been an issue somewhere else I have worked in the last three years' or 'This has not been an issue anywhere I have worked in the last three years.' For this report we have combined the first two categories into 'is an issue'.

We also asked whether people had directly experienced the issue in their current workplace. The table summarises the results.

Problem	personally experienced (%)	number who personally experienced (thousands of workers)	is an issue in this or previous workplace in last three years (%)
Increased workload	46	11,412	71
Pay is not increased in line with increased cost of living (i.e. at least equal to rate of inflation)	42	10,401	63
Increased stress levels in the workplace	39	9,778	69
Lower pay than people doing similar jobs for other employers	31	7,629	51
Little opportunity for internal career progression (i.e. promotion)	30	7,325	58
Lack of training	27	6,623	48
Unfair pay structures at your workplace	26	6,425	51
Boring or repetitive work	24	5,919	48
Longer working hours	23	5,696	48
Preferential treatment by managers that unfairly benefits some staff	21	5,252	49
Bullying by management or other workers	14	3,500	40
Cuts in pension provision or inadequate pensions	10	2,563	25
Unsafe working environment	10	2,434	21
Unsafe working practices	8	2,010	21
Redundancies (voluntary or compulsory)	7	1,740	38
Unfair disciplining of staff	6	1,559	15
Discrimination on the grounds of age	3	640	14
Unfair dismissal of staff	2	610	20
Discrimination on the grounds of gender	2	585	15
Discrimination on the grounds of sexuality	1	342	10
Discrimination on the grounds of race	1	226	9
None of these	20	5,007

The top issues group into three main headings:

• Pay - just under half the workforce say that their pay has not kept up with the cost of living (42 per cent) and significant proportions say that their workplace has unfair pay structures (26 per cent) or they do not get the same pay as people doing similar jobs for other organisations (31 per cent).
• Workloads, stress and hours - the biggest complaint is of an increased workload (46 per cent), with 39 per cent complaining of increased stress levels and 23 per cent of longer working hours.
• Training and progression - 30 per cent complain of poor promotion prospects and 27 per cent say they lack training - almost 7 million.

But some of the other figures also give real cause for concern. It is highly unlikely that there will ever come a time when everybody is satisfied with their pay, but any level of bullying should be intolerable, yet 14 per cent - more than 3.5 million people - say that they have been bullied and 40 per cent say they have worked somewhere in the last three years where bullying has gone on.

There is a significant minority of poor workplaces where bad practice is common. One in five complain of suffering from unfair preferential treatment in their workplace and half say that they know it goes on where they have worked. Around a fifth say they worked where they know of unfair sackings, unfair disciplinary treatment or poor health and safety. The figures suggest that more than half a million people have been unfairly dismissed, and that more than 2 million work where it is unsafe.

Although the poll does not present its findings in a way that allows this conclusion to be drawn from the data, this is entirely consistent with the common experience of unions and advice agencies that these different kinds of poor treatment tend to go together, as the report from the TUC's Commission on Vulnerable Employment shows.

Again, it is worth looking at those who are dissatisfied with their job in general to see what problems they experience. The table shows the difference between the problems experienced by those who are generally satisfied and those who generally dissatisfied with their job.

This shows that complaints about pay and increased workload are common to both groups (though the generally dissatisfied complain more). But the biggest differences are on lack of opportunity to progress, boring work and lack of training. These are followed by increased stress, unfair pay within the workplace and preferential treatment by managers. Perhaps these attributes can be summed up as 'stuck in a boring dead-end pressurised job.'

Which, if any, of the following have you personally experienced in the organisation you currently work for.	% of those satisfied with their job who say this has happened to them	% of those not satisfied with their job who say this has happened to them	difference
Little opportunity for internal career progression (i.e. promotion)	20	53	-33
Boring or repetitive work	13	46	-33
Lack of training	17	48	-31
Increased stress levels in the workplace	31	59	-28
Unfair pay structures at your workplace	19	45	-26
Unfair disciplining of staff	3	29	-26
Preferential treatment by managers that unfairly benefits some staff	15	38	-23
Lower pay than people doing similar jobs for other employers	25	46	-21
Increased workload	41	60	-20
Pay is not increased in line with increased cost of living (i.e. at least equal to rate of inflation)	36	56	-20
Bullying by management or other workers	8	27	-18
Longer working hours	20	32	-12
Unsafe working environment	6	18	-12
Unsafe working practices	5	16	-12
Cuts in pension provision or inadequate pensions	9	15	-6
Redundancies (voluntary or compulsory)	6	11	-5
Unfair dismissal of staff	1	6	-5
Discrimination on the grounds of gender	1	5	-4
Discrimination on the grounds of age	2	5	-3
Discrimination on the grounds of sexuality	0	4	-3
Discrimination on the grounds of race	1	2	-1

Other highlights from the more detailed figures include:

• Men say they have experienced all these issues more than women, with the exception of increased stress.
• Longer working hours is the only issue that clearly becomes more of a problem as pay goes up.
• Stress levels peak among those earning £30,000 to £40,000
• older workers are more stressed than younger workers, and are more likely to complain about lack of training.

What do workers want from unions, government and employers?

The poll asked questions about attitudes to unions and what issues workers would like unions to take up with government and employers.

The poll clearly shows that unions are legitimate institutions supported not just by union members but non-members too. Six out of ten (60 per cent) agree that 'unions provide vital protection for many groups of workers', with only one in eight (12 per cent) disagreeing.

Only one in five (21 per cent) think that 'unions are no longer relevant in today's world' and only slightly more (26 per cent) think that 'unions hold back companies in today's competitive world'. While union members are naturally more pro-union than non-members, a majority of non-members agree that unions provide vital protection and that they are relevant.

The poll set out a range of issues that unions might take up with government and employers and asked whether respondents supported the issue and how high a priority it ought to be for union campaigning. In addition for issues that unions raise with employers, we asked whether workers were satisfied with this in their own workplace.

The table reports the findings for issues that unions might raise with government and ranks them by the priority they are given by respondents.

Although some issues are more popular than others it is very significant that all of them receive majority support from both trade union members and non-members. Even the lowest priority issue, more bank holidays, has the support of two-thirds of the workforce (66 per cent) and a clear majority think it should be a priority.

As might be expected non-members give generally lower priority ratings to all the issues than union members. One would expect some non-union members who are hostile to unions to not want unions to give any issue priority. But it is significant that all the issues asked about not only receive majority backing from non-members but non-members rank them in the same order as union members. There is little difference in what union members and non-union members want from government. Unions speak for Britain at work.

More protection for vulnerable workers has been a particular TUC priority over the last year. The report of the TUC's Commission on Vulnerable Workers has led to the government to bring forward a range of proposals to improve enforcement and knowledge of employment rights. Compulsory employer contributions to pensions are contained in the Pensions Bill currently before Parliament. Improved access to training and skills is also a major TUC policy, with the government now committed to a right for staff to request training.

Here are some policy issues that trade unions might take up with government. For each one, please say whether you support or oppose the initiative. And how high or low a priority you would like see trade unions give to them.
	Support or oppose			Whether should be a priority or not
	All	union-members	Non-union members		all	union members	Non-union members
More protection for the low paid against exploitation by the worst employers
support	83	90	80	priority	81	86		79
oppose	2	1	2	low priority	9	6		11
net support	81	89	78	net priority	72	80		68
Compulsory employer contributions to employee pensions
support	76	86	72	priority	70	79		66
oppose	4	2	5	low priority	14	7		17
net support	72	84	67	net priority	56	72		50
More rights and opportunities for employees to get training and learn new skills
support	77	85	74	priority	66	71		63
oppose	2	1	2	low priority	11	7		13
net support	75	84	71	net priority	55	64		51
Action to close the pay-gap between men and women
support	74	78	72	priority	67	73		66
oppose	4	2	4	low priority	13	10		15
net support	70	76	68	net priority	54	62		51
More choice about working hours and flexible working rights
support	72	79	69	priority	64	69		62
oppose	4	2	4	low priority	12	8		14
net support	69	77	65	net priority	52	61		47
An end to child poverty in the UK
support	78	82	76	priority	68	70		66
oppose	3	3	3	low priority	16	13		18
net support	75	80	73	net priority	51	58		49
Shift the balance of tax so that big companies pay more tax and ordinary people pay less
support	72	77	70	priority	61	66		60
oppose	6	5	7	low priority	18	14		20
net support	66	72	63	net priority	43	52		40
Shift the balance of tax so that very wealthy individuals pay more tax and ordinary people pay less
support	71	78	69	priority	61	66		59
oppose	8	5	9	low priority	20	15		21
net support	63	73	60	net priority	41	51		38

	Support or oppose			Whether should be a priority or not
	All	union-members	Non-union members			all	union members	Non-union members
Policies that help the industries and individuals most badly affected by current economic difficulties
support	67	71	65	priority	57		61	56
oppose	6	5	6	low priority	17		14	19
net support	61	67	58	net priority	40		47	37
Measures to make workplaces more environmentally friendly
support	70	75	67	priority	55		60	53
oppose	5	3	5	low priority	19		13	22
net support	65	72	61	net priority	36		47	32
Action to increase the number of affordable homes for sale and rent
support	67	74	64	priority	53		54	52
oppose	7	6	7	low priority	22		17	24
net support	60	68	57	net priority	31		38	28
More bank holidays
support	66	71	64	priority	42		44	41
oppose	7	5	8	low priority	26		19	29
net support	59	66	55	net priority	16		25	12

The poll went on to ask respondents about workplace issues that unions might (or already do) raise with employers. First we asked whether respondents were satisfied with this issue in their workplace and secondly whether they think unions in general should give this issue priority. The table summarises the results for the workforce, union and non-union members.

For each issue there are three rows of results. The third row 'net' is the most interesting. The net satisfaction rating shows the percentage of the workforce who are dissatisfied taken away from the proportion who are satisfied. A positive result shows that more workers are satisfied than dissatisfied with that issue in their workplace. On only one issue 'The level of influence staff have over management decisions that affect them' is their net dissatisfaction, but it is very close for workload, stress and promotion opportunities. Most satisfaction is expressed over equal opportunities issues and safety, though perhaps groups who do not face discrimination could be expected to say that it is not a problem - thus skewing the results.

There are some interesting differences and similarities between union members and non-members. While there is little difference between them on pay, union members are much more satisfied with their pensions, probably reflecting the fact that unionised workplaces are much more likely to have good pension arrangements than non-union workplaces.

Union members are considerably more dissatisfied than non-members on workloads, stress and levels of influence. The more detailed figures show that this to some extent reflects public sector problems, but this does not explain all the differences.

The issues are listed in the table in order of the priority given to them by the workforce. The net rating for priority is calculated by taking those who think an issue should not be a priority or a low priority away from those who think it should be a very or fairly high priority. A positive figure therefore shows that more people think it should be a priority than not.

Every issue asked about has a majority of union and non-union members saying that it should be a priority. Not surprisingly pay is the top issue, followed by pensions and safety. These are the traditional union bread and butter issues. Next comes the connected issues of workload and stress, and then training.

The differences between union members and non-members on what unions should raise with employers are greater than with issues to do with government (shown in the table in the priority gap column). They do not rate the issues in quite the same order, and there are some significant differences between the two groups. Safety and equal opportunities are the issues where there is least difference. The biggest differences are on lifestyle issues and the extent that workers should have a voice with management. But even non-members give a positive rating to every issue, even if always at least a little lower than union members.

Here are some issues that trade unions could take up with employers. For each one, please indicate how satisfied or dissatisfied you are with this in the organisation you currently work for.
	all	union	non union		all	union	non-union	Priority gap
Pay
dissatisfied	30	32	30	priority	86	93	83
satisfied	47	46	46	low priority	6	3	7
net satisfaction	17	14	16	net priority	80	90	76	14
Pension provision
dissatisfied	20	12	23	priority	80	89	76
satisfied	49	65	42	low priority	11	7	12
net satisfaction	29	52	19	net priority	69	82	64	18
Safety in the workplace
dissatisfied	10	11	10	priority	77	81	75
satisfied	63	64	62	low priority	14	15	13
net satisfaction	52	53	52	net priority	63	65	62	4
Excessive workloads
dissatisfied	29	39	25	priority	72	80	69
satisfied	31	26	33	low priority	19	15	20
net satisfaction	2	-13	8	net priority	53	65	49	16
Stress levels at work
dissatisfied	31	41	27	priority	69	79	66
satisfied	33	26	35	low priority	21	16	22
net satisfaction	2	-15	7	net priority	48	63	43	20
Access to training
dissatisfied	29	27	29	priority	69	76	65
satisfied	39	40	38	low priority	22	20	23
net satisfaction	10	12	9	net priority	46	56	42	14
Fairness in treatment of staff regardless of gender (e.g. in terms of pay promotion opportunities)
dissatisfied	10	14	9	priority	68	72	66
satisfied	60	57	62	low priority	22	22	22
net satisfaction	50	43	53	net priority	46	51	44	6
Fairness in treatment of staff regardless of age (e.g. in terms of pay promotion opportunities)
dissatisfied	8	11	7	priority	68	73	66
satisfied	62	58	63	low priority	22	22	21
net satisfaction	54	46	56	net priority	46	51	45	6
Fairness in treatment of staff regardless of race (e.g. in terms of pay promotion opportunities)
dissatisfied	6	6	6	priority	67	71	65
satisfied	64	63	64	low priority	23	23	23
net satisfaction	58	56	58	net priority	44	48	41	7
Fairness in treatment of staff regardless of sexuality (e.g. in terms of pay promotion opportunities)
dissatisfied	5	6	5	priority	66	69	65
satisfied	64	61	64	low priority	24	25	23
net satisfaction	58	56	59	net priority	42	44	41	3
Choice around working time and opportunities for flexible working
dissatisfied	20	24	19	priority	61	68	58
satisfied	45	40	48	low priority	29	26	30
net satisfaction	25	16	29	net priority	32	42	27	15
The lifestyles of employees (e.g. health)
dissatisfied	21	26	18	priority	59	68	56
satisfied	38	31	40	low priority	30	26	31
net satisfaction	17	5	22	net priority	29	42	25	17
Career development opportunities (i.e. promotion prospects)
dissatisfied	31	35	30	priority	58	64	55
satisfied	31	30	31	low priority	32	30	33
net satisfaction	0	-6	1	net priority	26	34	23	11
The freedom staff have to organise their work in a way that suits them but still gets the job done
dissatisfied	17	23	15	priority	56	62	53
satisfied	53	43	57	low priority	34	31	35
net satisfaction	36	21	43	net priority	21	31	18	13
The level of influence staff have over management decisions that affect them
dissatisfied	33	43	30	priority	54	66	49
satisfied	27	22	29	low priority	36	27	39
net satisfaction	-6	-21	-1	net priority	18	39	9	30
How environmentally friendly your workplace is
dissatisfied	20	26	17	priority	51	57	48
satisfied	41	34	44	low priority	39	37	40
net satisfaction	22	8	27	net priority	12	20	8	12

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Report (5,700 words) issued 2 Sep 2008