Does Your Employer Measure Up?

Think about it for a few moments. Compared to others in your industry, do you know how the company you work for ranks in employee-related criteria? Are you being treated better or worse than average? Think about the following questions. These are things that can greatly contribute to your overall happiness in the workplace. Are you getting the treatment you deserve or is it time to start searching for a new job?


Recognition—When you work harder than normal, like stay late to finish an important project, for example, does your boss thank you? Do you get any recognition outside of the normally scheduled performance reviews given at your company?

Raises—Are your raises regularly scheduled or do they come “every once in a while”? Do you feel you are fairly compensated compared to others working in your industry with your qualifications? A great tool you can use to check this out is http://www.salary.com.

Unreasonable expectations—Are you frequently asked to finish multiple projects in a very short amount of time? Do you often think to yourself how impossible it is for one person to finish as much as you’re expected to?

Core Benefits—Are you happy with the health and life insurance you’re receiving? How about your flexible spending account and 401K options?

Family Related Benefits—Does your company offer extras like childcare, maternity/paternity leave and/or elder care programs? Would they seriously consider offering things like this if enough people suggested it?

Work Environment—Do you sometimes wonder if you’re working for a fascist regime or are you offered things like flextime, employee rewards, regular break times and a relaxed dress policy?

Communication—Does your company communicate within itself? Do you publish a newsletter, have an Intranet system or even a suggestion box? If not, are your employers at least approachable about new ideas concerning different methods of improvement?

Training and Planning—Are things like continuous training for employees and tuition reimbursement benefits offered at all?

Community Service—Is your employer generous and charitable or are they a bit cheap when it comes to donation drives, fundraisers or volunteer work?

Morale—Is employee happiness important enough to your company? Do they encourage things like staff associations to promote camaraderie and teambuilding? Do they ever throw work parties for staff birthdays, holidays or other events?

Hopefully, this has started you thinking about how your employers contribute to your happiness at the workplace. If they rate highly, this might be a company worth moving up in. But if you started get a really negative vibe while pondering these questions, it may be time to move on rather than up.

Either way, it doesn’t hurt to put up your résumé and see what other companies in your field are hiring… and for how much!