What makes a "good workplace?"

Wes Bucey

Quite Involved in Discussions
#1
Today, the Chicago Tribune had a special magazine insert titled "Chicago's Top Workplaces"
The website does not have the entire magazine available as a download, but you can start here and pick up links to most, if not all, the articles. There will be a point where this link goes dead if you are not a registered user of the Tribune (free)

One item which struck me were some of the factors used to determine a "good workplace" - some are listed in the print edition with statistical results, but I haven't found them on the website.

Here's the few they list in print (they use a Lickert scale from agree to disagree):

  • There is not a lot of frustration at my workplace
  • At this organization, we do things efficiently and well
  • I would highly recommend working at this organization to others
  • I have confidence in the leader of this organization
  • I feel well-informed about important decisions at this organization
  • I believe this organization is going in the right direction
  • My pay is fair for the work I do
  • I am confident about my future at this organization
  • this organization operates by strong values and ethics
  • I feel genuinely appreciated at this organization
  • I have many opportunities to learn and grow at this organization
  • My benefits package is good compared to others in this industry
  • I have the flexibility I need to balance my work and personal life
  • My manager makes my job easier
  • It's easy to tell my boss the truth
How would YOU answer those on a scale from 1-7 (7 being "totally disagree")?

What do you think you should do if YOUR average runs over 5?

Note this is NOT a poll and I'm not really interested in reading a litany of scores, but I am interested in whether you agree these questions are pertinent to a "good workplace" and why or why not. If you have some examples of great or terrible, it might be interesting to read them, but REMEMBER - be careful in naming names, retribution from someone you slam can be unexpected and painful, even if you think you are anonymous - current techniques ensure few of us can ever be truly anonymous.
 
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SteelMaiden

Super Moderator
Super Moderator
#2
I think that the list includes many good things to look at when deciding if a workplace is "good". I am not sure that there aren't some other things that should be considered, also. How many people leave your organization to work for a competitor, vs how many leave due to promotions/transfers within the corporation. Do people look out for one another? Do people come together to help one another in emergencies? There are a lot of cultural things that are kind of skirted, but not really focused on, and I think what your company does for its community says lots about how "good" a place it is to work for. Just some quick thoughts off the top of my pointed little head.:D
 

apestate

Quite Involved in Discussions
#3
Interesting topic.

One thing I long for that is not cited in the list is a sense of ownership, of responsibility. This may not be lacking in the college educated, but in the skilled trade / blue collar jobs, an employee is often treated less as a partner and more like a work horse, despite qualifications. IMHO.

My criteria are only three. Pay, position, and atmosphere.

#1 Pay ranks first on this scale.

#2 Position refers to the opportunity, the responsibility, the ~prestige~ that you get from your job, the satisfaction you get from doing your work. Position also might refer to how good you are at your job.

#3 Atmosphere is simply the culture and comforts of your day-to-day. How well you like your colleagues, superiors, or even the type of work or industry that you are involved in?

I've been lucky to get two out of the three right. :> 3/3 = dream job.
 
G

George Weiss

#5
Please define a "good workplace". I see there can be more than one viewpoint. examples:
1. From the eyes of a sole proprietor who values profit at all cost.
2. From the eyes of a young person with eyes on a top job some day.
3. From the eyes of a 55+ person who is looking at gliding into 65.
4. From the eyes of a Lean Green Sigma six middle manager.
5. From the eyes of a illegal immigrant.
6. From the eyes of an attorney.
this clears up how we are looking at GOOD WORKPLACE.
 

Wes Bucey

Quite Involved in Discussions
#6
I think that the list includes many good things to look at when deciding if a workplace is "good". I am not sure that there aren't some other things that should be considered, also. How many people leave your organization to work for a competitor, vs how many leave due to promotions/transfers within the corporation. Do people look out for one another? Do people come together to help one another in emergencies? There are a lot of cultural things that are kind of skirted, but not really focused on, and I think what your company does for its community says lots about how "good" a place it is to work for. Just some quick thoughts off the top of my pointed little head.:D
As I said - only a partial list of the survey. I haven't found the compete list, nor do I expect to. Survey companies guard stuff like that to give them a competitive edge and to reduce "gaming" the system.

@Wes...

If you want honest results, (imo) the best way to go would be to post an online poll using one of those sites:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/

http://www.micropoll.com/a/createUser.do?application=MicroPoll
You missed the point - I don't care about whether our readers are happy at their jobs for the purpose of this thread. I only want to know if they think these criteria are valid and WHY!

Please define a "good workplace". I see there can be more than one viewpoint. examples:
1. From the eyes of a sole proprietor who values profit at all cost.
2. From the eyes of a young person with eyes on a top job some day.
3. From the eyes of a 55+ person who is looking at gliding into 65.
4. From the eyes of a Lean Green Sigma six middle manager.
5. From the eyes of a illegal immigrant.
6. From the eyes of an attorney.
this clears up how we are looking at GOOD WORKPLACE.
That's the whole point of asking you to comment on the criteria given - do YOU think they are valid criteria (for YOUR definition of "good workplace?") If you are not an attorney, why the heck do you care what an attorney thinks is a good workplace? I have a legal education and I don't give a rat's derriere what an attorney thinks about MY working conditions, only what I think.
 
G

George Weiss

#7
Then if I answered the question as would other elsmar covers, then wouldn't there be a bias towards informed quality people?
How would this bias be removed?
I am an unemployed older person, and would likely view a paycheck as an indicator of a good workplace.
The 2008 market crash placed new priorities on my view of a good workplace.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Statistical Steven

Statistician
Staff member
Super Moderator
#8
The problem is that "Good Workplace" is subjective. At ANY organization are happy workers and disgruntled workers. Right now with a poor economy, the options are far and few between so disgruntled workers stay the course.

Now is the criteria in the survey fair or accurate? Notice all questions are stated in the positive form? Should some questions be asked as a negative? Such as, "I feel under appreciated".

In general, I find these surveys useless. Without having several classification variables such as age, position or rank in company, gender, industry, etc. I am unable to assess the survey.
 

Wes Bucey

Quite Involved in Discussions
#9
Then if I answered the question as would other elsmar covers, then wouldn't there be a bias towards informed quality people?
How would this bias be removed?
I am an unemployed older person, and would likely view a paycheck as an indicator of a good workplace.
The 2008 market crash placed new priorities on my view of a good workplace.
You are still missing the point. I only care about what people who read this thread think. I am not being paid for, nor is it my intent to perform a survey. The guys who did do the survey got more than $100,000 - pay me that and will perform a punctilious survey, completely annotated.

:topic:
In terms of being unemployed, check these threads - they've helped a lot of people in their job hunts.
Thinking about a New Job for New Year?

Resume and cover letter - How good are yours?

The Job Hunt - Care and feeding of references

Tips to get past the "gatekeeper" when job hunting

Consulting – Is it in YOUR Career Future?

Contracting/Temping - Viable Alternates in Tough Times
 

Wes Bucey

Quite Involved in Discussions
#10
The problem is that "Good Workplace" is subjective. At ANY organization are happy workers and disgruntled workers. Right now with a poor economy, the options are far and few between so disgruntled workers stay the course.

Now is the criteria in the survey fair or accurate? Notice all questions are stated in the positive form? Should some questions be asked as a negative? Such as, "I feel under appreciated".

In general, I find these surveys useless. Without having several classification variables such as age, position or rank in company, gender, industry, etc. I am unable to assess the survey.
You, too, are missing the point.

I took a graduate level course in survey construction. It is obvious to me, based on the insight gained from that course, that the point of the survey was NOT to single out which companies were best for any single segment of the workforce (males, females, whites, blacks, citizens, non-citizens, blind, deaf, crippled, war vets, animal lovers, wife beaters, etc., etc.), but merely to survey the general, currently employed workforce of companies to determine their state of satisfaction and thereby rank companies.

If I were to commission a survey (using someone else's money), I might want to know some of the things Steel Maiden asked in post 2. I'd also like to factor in the profitability versus stock price of the companies. I'd like to know the disparity between the compensaton for the CEO and the average employee. I'd like to know the gross income generated per employee and the net profit per employee. I'd like some way to know the culture of each company. (I've seen some VERY paternalistic privately held companies where the employees all professed to be happy, but an outside observer might remark they all seemed like Stepford wives - either robots or brainwashed!)

Yep. I'd like to know all that, BUT nobody is going to pay me to run that survey, so the discussion on all those things is moot.

What I DO want to know is whether low scores on a Lickert scale on these questions listed above are valid indicators, in each Cove reader's opinion, of whether a company is good to work for. I expect a clever job seeker might want to know a lot more, but, would you consider a company where the employees give good grades on these points is a good starting place to look for a job (i.e. to narrow your search?)
 
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