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FC-Roper Starch Survey: Expectations

By: Fast Company
Results from the Fast Company-Roper Starch Survey on job expectations.

Here are complete results from the Fast Company - Roper Starch Worldwide online survey.

Think first about your job today. Would you say you spend too much time working and thinking about work, just the right amount of time, or not enough time?

Too much time: 50%
Just the right amount of time: 47%
Not enough time: 3%

Thinking again about your job today, would you say you are paid more than enough, just enough, or not enough?

More than enough: 7%
Just enough: 33%
Not enough: 60%

We're going to ask you to think back to your first day on the job with your current employer. Back then, did you expect to spend?

A lot of time working and thinking about work: 36%
An average amount of time: 59%
Less time than average: 5%

On that first day on the job, did you expect that over time you would be paid...?

Above average: 29%
About average: 51%
Less than average: 20%

Thinking about when you started to work for your current employer, which one of the following best described what you expected? Did you expect to be ...

Paid a fair day's wage for a fair day's work: 16%
Awarded steady pay increases to reward your experience: 43%
Rewarded for the value you help create: 31%
Not paid fairly at all: 4%
Doesn't apply -- self-employed: 6%

Thinking about your job today, are you ...

Paid a fair day's wage for a fair day's work: 21%
Awarded steady pay increases to reward your experience: 24%
Rewarded for the value you help create: 19%
Not paid fairly at all: 30%
Doesn't apply -- self-employed: 6%

Thinking about when you started to work for your current employer, which one of the following best described what you expected? Did you expect to ...

Do whatever the boss told you: 21%
Get the big picture from the boss then you fill in the details: 51%
Set the agenda yourself and decide the specifics of your work: 22%
Doesn't apply -- self-employed: 5%

Thinking about your job today, do you...?

Do whatever the boss tells you: 16%
Get the big picture from the boss then you fill in the details: 44%
Set the agenda yourself and decide the specifics of your work: 35%
Doesn't apply -- self-employed: 5%

When you started work for your current employer, did you think that ...

Your job would be mostly just a way to make money-nothing more: 12%
Your job would be meaningful, but not as much as other things: 37%
Your job would be equally meaningful to you as other things: 46%
Your job would be the most meaningful thing in your life: 5%

Overall, which statement best describes your relationship to your work right now:

My job is mostly just a way to make money -- nothing more: 18%
My job is meaningful, but not as much as the rest of my life: 52%
My job is equally meaningful as family and other activities: 26%
My job is the most meaningful thing in my life: 4%

When you started work for your current employer, to what extent were you promised ...

From Issue 29 | October 1999

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