Discontentment is in the Air

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Discontentment is in the Air

From _www._ (http://www.Examiner.com) Examiner.com

Baltimore, MD

Weekend edition March 22, 2008

Discontentment is in the Air

Survey indicates employee’s satisfaction may depend on environmental factors

By Molly Selvin Los Angeles Times

Forget salaries, expense accounts or keys to the executive washroom.

Employee loyalty is won or lost over the cleanliness of the bathrooms and the

amount

of sticky goo on the carpet.

One in three workers surveyed recently said they had accepted a job – or

quit one – because of the most basic working conditions. The respondent’s

chief

complaints by far: the sate of the indoor atmosphere, the gripes being about

either hot-as-the tropics heating or Antarcitc air conditioning.

Corporate managers searching for new office space think mostly about rent

and whether the layout and location will work for their companies, said ny

Winton, president of Blumberg Capital Partners, which commissioned the

survey.

“They’re not really thinking …Will my employees be OK working in this

environment?†he said.

Blumberg’s survey of 500 workers was the first of its kind, Winton said. The

Coral Gables, FL based company develops and manages high-end commercial

office buildings in Florida and Texas.

“We thought that the office building itself could have some major play†in

an employer’s ability to attract and keep workers, Winton said.

Apparently it does. More than three-fourths of those polled in December

said the overall condition of their offices affected how they viewed their

employer and whether they were likely to stay in their jobs. And 30 percent

said

they worried that unhealthy or unsafe conditions in their building might make

them sick.

A worker’s focus on disagreeable conditions may be more a symptom of a

larger problem than the sole cause for a defection, said Any Lyman, co-founder

of

the Great Place to Work Institute, a San Francisco-based consulting company.

People don’t quit just because the bathrooms are dirty, she said, but

because employers that don’t keep the bathrooms clean don’t respond to

other

worker concerns as well.

Winton said the survey results should at least encourage other companies to

pay more attention to the basics.

Buckner has few fond memories of the San Francisco building where she

worked in 1996. Much of the building was vacant – or so she thought until she

heard rats scurrying above the acoustic ceiling tiles.

“The tiles were always slightly askew,†she recalled, “and every once in

a

while you could see their foot or tails come through.â€

Her first rat sighting was quite alarming, she said, “but like all things,

you get used to it.â€

Until you can find another job.

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