What does this mean?

Jeffrey Salzman, chief executive of Sirota Intelligence, said findings showed most workers did not want just to "get by" in their jobs. "Most people come to work enthusiastic and want to make a real contribution. Those who feel they have too little to do – and possibly feel unappreciated by their employers – have lower levels of overall satisfaction and a waning sense of enthusiasm." When people feel under worked, they also tend to feel undervalued and their job insecurity increases, making them just as vulnerable for employee turnover as the hard-working employees who feel over-burdened, perhaps carrying the loads of others.

There is obviously a cost to overworking employees. Now this study confirms that there can be a serious cost to under working people as well. Today's workers want to be productive — for job security and for the sense of making a difference for their employers and their employers' customers. People do not want to be under worked, so employers need to balance their workers expectations more carefully with company expectations.

What came out from this study is a movement away from mediocrity. People that have the right amount of work to do were happiest, even though that workload may be less that they actually could carry. The least satisfied actually wanted more work; they did not want to feel mediocre, ineffective, or less than valuable to their employer and the world.

Tomorrow's employees will want to do more, and feel appreciated for their contributions.

Edited extract from the Herman trend Alert.
Herman Trend Alerts are written by Roger Herman and Joyce Gioia, strategic business futurists, Certified Management Consultants, authors and professional speakers.