CHAPTER 6: WORK: MEANING, OPPORTUNITIES AND

EXPERIENCE
6.1 Work
 Work is an important aspect of adult life.
 It is conceptualized very narrow as activities which people do for a wage, salary or fee.
 If you begin working at age 18 and retire at 65, you will have spent 47 years in the labor
force.
 An examination of the labor force, types of jobs workers held, and the degree of
satisfaction among workers are the topics of this section.

6.2 The Labor Force

 The Labor Force: consists of all individuals age 16 and older who are employed in paid
positions or who are seeking paid employment.
 People who are not paid for their services such as homemakers, are not considered to
be part of the labor force.

6.3 Composition
 The nature of something's ingredients or constituents; the way in which a whole or mixture is
made up.
 A profession: is a high status occupation that requires specialized skills obtained through
formal education.
 Professional level work includes jobs such as engineer, lawyer, teacher, dentist, or writer.
 Another changing aspect of the labor force composition is the rise of minority workers as a
percentage of the total workforce.

6.4 Unemployment
 Unemployment is the situation that occurs when a person does not have a job but is actively
seeking employment.
 The Unemployment rate is the percentage of the civilian labor force that is unemployed but
actively seeking employment.
 The unemployment rate varies according to such factors such as age, gender, and race
and culture background.
 There are always people who are in the process of seeking employment.

6.5 Occupation
 Executive, administrative, and managerial: E.g., Business executives, office
managers, sales managers, public relations supervisors, bank workers, receptionists,
cashiers, and store managers.
 Professional specialty: E.g., doctors, lawyers, dentists, pharmacists, librarians, nurses,
engineers, artists, veterinarians, psychiatrists, social workers, teachers and accountants.
 Technical occupations: E.g., laboratory technicians, dental hygienists, medical
assistants, licensed practical nurses, and X-ray technicians.
 Sales workers: E.g., retail salespeople, insurance salespeople, real estate agents, and
manufacturers’ representative.
 Service occupations: E.g., private household workers – maids, cooks, butlers, and
nursemaids; protective service workers – waitpersons, cooks, dental and nursing
assistants, janitors, hairdressers, airline attendants, and child care workers.

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  Precision production, craft and repair workers: E.g., mechanics, television repairers,
shoemakers, dressmakers, tailors, printers, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, concrete
workers, skilled precision production workers.
 Operators, fabricators, and laborers: E.g., packagers, assemblers, welders, heavy
equipment operators, freight handlers, warehouse workers, and laborers.
 Farming, forestry, and fishing: E.g., farm owners and operators, farm laborers,
lumberjacks, fishers, hunters and trappers.

6.6 Job Satisfaction

 Research indicated that the vast majority of workers are satisfied with their
jobs.
 The lack of satisfaction varied according to factors such as income and age.
 Income and Age and other factors:
 Workers with higher incomes reported greater satisfaction with their work than
people with lower incomes.
 Older workers are more satisfied with their job than younger workers.
 Workers expressed the greatest satisfaction with such job characteristics as
workplace safety conditions, relations with co-workers, flexibility of hours, the
opportunity to do what they do best, and job security.
 In the Gallop poll; workers expressed dissatisfaction with the amount of on-the-job
stress, their income, and their chances of promotion.
 They also displayed unhappiness with the benefits they received, such as health
insurance, and retirement plans.
 1/3 of those surveyed in the 1999 Harris poll said they it was very likely that they
would change jobs in the next five years.
 Changing careers means that workers go into a new field for which their previous
experience does not directly qualify them.
 Statistics indicate the average worker will change careers from 5-6 times in a
lifetime.

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6.7 Factors Affecting Job Satisfaction

1. Working Environment.

 Need an environment which is healthy and safe and which caters for both personal
comforts and facilitates doing a good job.
 If the working conditions are good (clean, attractive surrounding), the personnel will find
it easier to carry out their jobs.
 If the working conditions are poor (hot, noisy surrounding), personnel will find it more
difficult to get things done.
 Having a friendly, and supportive environment can lead to increased job satisfaction.

2. Fair Policies and Practice

 Individuals who perceive that promotion decisions are made in a fair and just manner are
likely to experience satisfaction from their jobs.
 Very often employees are demotivated and dissatisfied with their jobs because unfair
policies and practices prevail at their place of work.
 Importance for an organization to have a fair and equal system regarding practices and
policies so that there is no discrimination and frustration.

3. Caring Organization
 Consideration career development, adult treatment, being taken seriously and being
appreciated for a job well done.
 When people feel that the organization; for which they are working, cares for them and
takes actions to improve their work and lives, they are happy, and this creates higher
satisfaction.
4. Appreciation
 When one gets acknowledged in front of everyone, it gives up a boost to their morale.
 Even for the smaller job that does one seek to have an appreciation, from colleagues,
boss, and seniors.
 The level of job satisfaction is always higher wherever appreciation is higher.

5. Pay
 Wages and salaries are recognized to be a significant but cognitively complex (Carraher,
& Buckley, 1996) and multidimensional factor in job satisfaction.
 Money not only helps people attain their basic needs but is also instrumental in providing
upper-level need satisfaction.
 Employees often see pay as a reflection of how management views their contribution to
the organization.

6. Age
 Various studies carried out in this field have shown that job satisfaction tends to increase
with age.
 That is older employees tend to report higher satisfaction, and younger employees say
the lowest job satisfaction rates.

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7. Personal Interest and Hobbies
 People who pursue their hobbies and interest as their career, gain the highest level of
satisfaction in whatever they do at their workplace.
 This is because their job is not a job for them, but a way of getting closer to their interest
and making money.

8. Respect from Co-Workers

 Employees seek to be treated with respect by those they work with.
 A hostile work environment with rude or unpleasant coworkers is one that usually has
lower job satisfaction.
 Managers need to take a step and mediate conflicts before they escalate into more
serious problems requiring disciplinary action.

9. Flexibility
 Offering flexibility is a great way to show the team members that what is expected from
them.
 Flexible hours can increase engagement and productivity.
 Smart people work best when they can choose their schedule.

10. Nature of Work

 The nature of work can define the willingness to work.
 Most individuals have a liking for certain tasks and would prefer to handle these tasks.
 One should make sure that he/she is going for firms where he/she gets to apply the
skills, abilities, and knowledge to the fullest.
 Recent research has found that such job characteristics and job complexity mediate the
relationship between personality and job satisfaction, and if the creative requirements of
employees’ jobs are met, then they tend to be satisfied.