Employee Satisfaction with Compensation and Benefits Declining

November 7, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Results from Sibson's 2006 Rewards of Work Survey show American employees today are less satisfied with key work elements than in prior years.

According to the survey report, the individual measures of the compensation element of rewards saw the largest decreases from prior surveys. Only 20% of 2006 respondents gave favorable ratings to their employers’ overall pay systems, less than half the number of respondents who did so in the 2003 survey (41%).

In addition, pay level satisfaction declined from 66% of respondents providing a favorable rating in 2003 to 55% of respondents in 2006, the report said. Only 42% of respondents gave a favorable rating to pay raise satisfaction in 2006, down from 53% in 2003.

Similarly, satisfaction with benefits has declined from previous years. The percentage of respondents giving favorable ratings to health care benefits has declined from 66% in 2000 to 62% in 2003 to 58% in 2006. Fifty-six percent of respondents gave a favorable rating for retirement benefits in 2003, compared to only 42% in 2006.

Other results of the survey include:

  • Favorability ratings were down from 2003 for understanding of vision (73% from 80%), organization commitment (63% from 72%), trust in management (56% from 63%), and organizational support (57% from 69%).
  • The survey found a significant decline in workers’ satisfaction levels with feedback from supervisors (51%) from 2003 (72%).
  • Seventy percent of workers surveyed in 2003 provided favorable ratings for job training levels, while only 47% of those surveyed in 2006 did the same.
  • Less than half (47%) of respondents gave a favorable rating to performance management effectiveness.

For more information, go to http://www.segalsibson.com/practices/row.html .

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