Leadership

Crummy Jobs Cross the Atlantic

By Jessica Stillman

Updated on: July 1, 2008 / 12:45 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

The Find: Crummy jobs aren't just an American phenomenon: a new survey finds half of UK employees feel less than valued by their employer.
The Source: A report -- Social Capital in the Workplace -- conducted by the Workplace Intelligence Unit (WIU) and forward thinking inc.

The Takeaway: This week BNET has proclaimed the return of the crummy job. With a recession taking hold and lay-offs looming, morale is bottoming out in workplaces across America, and things aren't all that much sunnier across the Atlantic. WIU polled 360 UK workers and uses the results to put some numbers to just how low British office workers are feeling right about now. It's not pretty: half of workers said they felt their work is not valued by their employer and their company does not act in their best interests.

It wasn't just bosses who fail to value their employees. Many workers complained their co-workers fail to appreciate them. Three out of ten people said that colleagues don't show respect for other people's views while four in ten said their perennially tardy co-workers don't value their time, while 16 percent of employees think there isn't good collaboration between members of their team.

The Question: Most managers don't have a lot of money to throw around right now, so what's the best low-cost method to convey to your team how much you value them?

(Image of stressed out sign on coffee pot by joelogon, CC 2.0)