The recession, layoffs, and outsourcing have all taken a toll on job satisfaction in the tech industry. A job satisfaction survey from the Corporate Executive Board found that the number of dissatisfied workers in all fields continues to increase, and that the willingness of IT employees to “exert high levels of discretionary effort” (i.e., staying late to work on a project) has dropped to its lowest level in 10 years.
Formerly highly engaged workers who become disengaged are more than 2.5 times more likely to look for a new job than other employees.
In another survey, the Conference Board found that only 45 percent of the occupants in US households were satisfied with their jobs, down from 61 percent in 1987.