Benefits December 19, 2007

Getting Drunk and Office Lust Subjects of Exec Poll Highlights

December 19, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Getting sloshed at the company holiday party is the biggest workplace social faux pas while nearly seven in 10 executives confessed to having secretly lusted after co-workers.
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Those were two of the greatest hits from the regular surveys conducted by TheLadders.com, a job search site for $100,000+ executives, according to a news release from the company. The polls were taken between 2004 and 2007.

The announcement said the surveys were grouped under three categories, and highlights included:

MONEY & GETTING AHEAD:

  • 57% of executives said an MBA is nice, but not necessary.
  • 61% of executives said the most important second language for executives was Spanish, followed by 16% who chose Chinese.
  • 32.5% said stock options are an integral component to a pay package; 24.9% would prefer more cash; and 20.5% said options are “gravy” but not a big motivator.
  • 70% of executives said the prospect of an overseas assignment would be an exciting opportunity
  • 75% of executives surveyed said physical fitness is critical for career success at the executive level.

WORK/LIFESTYLE:

  • 79.1% of executives said they prefer to wear either business casual or outright casual attire for work, and another 62% said business casual is now standard office dress code.
  • 62% of men in the country’s top income bracket said they would put their careers on hold to become stay-at-home dads.
  • 79% of executives planned to take a vacation in 2007 and few of them planned to stay connected to the office. Some 51% said they would check in once or twice, and 34.5% said they would not check once.

OFFICE POLITICS:

  • 72% of executives said men get paid more than women for the same work, and 66.3% said women do not have as many opportunities as men to become company CEOs.
  • 69% of executives said they have fallen victim to age discrimination, yet 51% said they plan to continue working after retirement.
  • 52% of executives said they actively search new job listings at work.
  • 89.2% of executives said it is a company’s duty to be socially responsible, and 87.3% said they would not work for a company that had a reputation for negative social responsibility.

TheLadders.com surveys were conducted between June 2004 and November 2007 and included a total of over 17,000 executives.

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