SoylentNews

AnonTechie [soylentnews.org] writes:

Sometimes at work, it’s not just a case of the Mondays. The level of dissatisfaction employees have with their job can last beyond the start of the week. New University of Georgia research [sciencedirect.com] has found that employers and policymakers might want to start paying attention because employee happiness contains critical economic information.

Susana Ferreira, professor of agricultural and applied economics in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, used an empirical model to relate job satisfaction, wages and work environment.

Traditionally, you’d hope that workers are paid fairly for their working conditions, a premise that follows a hedonic wage model. That positive outlook relies on perfect job and labor market conditions and assumes workers are rational, fully informed of workplace conditions and can switch jobs freely.

However, this study used overall gratification to understand employees and uncover the tradeoffs between working conditions and pay — even in circumstances when job markets are rigid, and workers might feel “stuck” at their jobs.

[...] Ferreira says this study shows that workplace satisfaction is much more crucial than some employers give credit to. Higher pay and a safer work environment can have an immense impact on worker contentment. And happier workers can mean plenty of good things for the business itself.

[Source]: University of Georgia [uga.edu]

Do we really need such a study ? Is the conclusion not obvious to business leaders ?

Original Submission