I came across a couple of surveys that sort of flew below my radar. Harris Interactive conducted a survey titled The New Employer/Employee Equation Survey and published its findings a little over a month ago. I guess the reason that it didn’t get much play is that the results weren’t (unfortunately) really that surprising. Most notable:

Job Satisfaction vs. Engagement
Across the American workforce, only 45 percent of workers say they
are satisfied (33 percent) or extremely satisfied (12 percent) with
their jobs. At the same time, a much lower number actually feel very
"engaged" by their jobs. Only 20 percent feel very passionate about
their jobs; less than 15 percent agree that they feel strongly
energized by their work; and only 31 percent (strongly or moderately)
believe that their employer inspires the best in them.

Work Burnout
Increasing numbers of employees are coping with burnout (42 percent),
while one-third (33 percent) believe they have reached a dead end in
their jobs, and 21 percent are eager to change their jobs.

Knowledge@Wharton offered some pessimistic commentary on these statistics. As workers, particularly those in my generation, feel increasingly disconnected with their workplace, they are likely to focus on getting the skills and experiences they need and moving on. John Paul MacDuffie from Wharton said:

If you begin to embrace the notion of employability, you are getting
less commitment. I’m not sure why. One view is that
people are very committed to the job they are doing, to the projects
that they are on, but they are not caught up in loyalty to the company.
Maybe this is an acceptable loss. But the other view is that people are
not just less committed but they are cynical, they are suspicious, they
are always kind of calculating ‘What is in it for me?’

I have a couple of visceral reactions to all of this. One, I think that it doesn’t have to be this way. Two, I’m optimistic that we’re moving toward a place where Soulful Work is reality. We’re clamoring for it because we know its a possibility. Deep within, we know that the bottom line and the human heart can co-exist and that the business world can only thrive when the two are integrated successfully. There is so much opportunity to rewrite the tacit agreements between the organization and worker and pave a way toward a new workplace.

Yes, I can be confused for an idealist and woo-woo artist and these are tags I’ll gladly accept. I hope at least a little of them dwells within you. Let’s see what new organizations we can create.