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Rising to the Occasion
OS magazine, February/March 2009 OS magazine reports on the latest SecsLife report from Gordon Yates and Guardian Jobs. Salaries for support staff have barely risen in the past year, there’s no increase in benefits and many are battling with an increased workload. All this might suggest that a growing number of support staff are dissatisfied with their lot. In fact the opposite is true, according to the latest SecsLife report from Gordon Yates and Guardian Jobs, which found that only 18% per cent of permanent staff are more dissatisfied with their job; a year ago it was 26%. Richard Grace, co-managing director of Gordon Yates, said that in times of economic downturn, people face increased pressure at work. “The comments we’ve received suggest that office staff are rising to the challenge and that many of them are grateful they’re still employed and are starting to look at their job in a different light,” he said. Cautious recruitment plans Companies are showing caution in taking on more support staff. Only 11% of employers surveyed plan to increase their admin support in the next 12 months; compared with 23% a year ago. Another telling sign of the tightening job market is the sharp fall in the number of support staff planning to move to a new job. Past surveys suggest that a high level of turnover is normal, as many secretaries and admin workers become restless after two or three years in the same role. In 2007, 58% were seeking a new job but this year the figure has plummeted to 36%. More dissatisfied temps While job satisfaction is rising amongst full-time staff, it is falling for their temporary colleagues: 40% of temps say they are increasingly unhappy. The main reasons are the uncertainty of getting work and greater financial insecurity. Family friendly employers Not all the SecsLife findings reflect the negative effects of the current economic climate and there are some positive indicators too. For example, companies appear to be much more ‘family friendly’. 40% of employers surveyed exceed Statutory Maternity Pay and 52% allow new mothers to take more than the Statutory Maternity Leave. Paternity leave, however, has some way to catch up. A third of employers say that new fathers in their company rarely, or even never, take paternity leave. For the SecsLife report findings, visit www.secslife.com