Job Satisfaction in Britain: Coping with Complexity
| Author | Michael Rose |
| Published date | 01 September 2005 |
| Date | 01 September 2005 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.2005.00364.x |
British Journal of Industrial Relations
43:3 September 2005 0007– 1080 pp. 455– 467
© Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2005. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd,
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Blackwell Publishing Ltd.Oxford, UKBJIRBritish Journal of Industrial Relations0007-1080Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2005September 2005433455467
Job
Satisfaction in BritainBritish Journal of Industrial Relations
Michael Rose is Professorial Research Fellow in Economic Life at the University of Bath.
Job Satisfaction in Britain: Coping
with Complexity
Michael Rose
Abstract
Claims for a growth of despondency in the British workforce in the 1990s, based
on job satisfaction data, are questioned by an evaluation of: (i) the bases of
comparison, (ii) features of job-satisfaction measures, (iii) the properties of
key data sets and (iv) inferences drawn from the data. A more complex situation
is presented showing significant falls in satisfaction with the job facets, the work
itself, and hours worked; significant rises in satisfaction with total pay and
security of job; a steep decline in overall job satisfaction among women and
stable or slightly rising overall job satisfaction among men. Trends in job quality,
workforce composition, the economic cycle and changing work values among
women, rather than generalized despondency, are proposed as sources for
hypotheses for future research. The latter should include a review of data
requirements, and research on the performance of measures of job satisfaction.
1. Introduction: employee despondency in Britain
What might be called a
despondency thesis
has figured in recent stocktaking
of the morale of the UK workforce. Influential policy commentators have
found a mood of deepening employee dejection among British employees,
who are said to have become tense and despondent compared to an earlier
period. The Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) Future of Work
programme (Taylor 2002: 9) found that ‘a marked decline has taken place in
levels of worker satisfaction’ and summed up: ‘Today’s world of work is much
less satisfying to employees than the one they were experiencing ten years
ago’. The Work Foundation (2002: 4) warns that ‘UK employees are becom-
ing more critical of UK employers’, producing a ‘downward slide of satisfac-
tion and effort’. On the basis of such reports, a key section of the best-selling
Willing Slaves: How the Overwork Culture Is Ruling Our Lives
by Bunting
(2004: chapter 6) starts with the claim: ‘Job satisfaction fell in Britain
throughout the nineties. We were unhappy about the nature of our work, the
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