April 5 is national “Fun at Work Day,” but according to an article I spotted in the St. Petersburg Times, many people on the east side of the Twin Cities won’t be celebrating. A study put out by CareerBliss, an online career community, lists Minneapolis at a respectable 15th place out of the 50 largest U.S. cities in its survey of "The Best and Worst Cities to Work," while St. Paul finished dead last--the "unhappiest" city in the US in which to work!
I don’t know about you, but I was a tad surprised by this. In fact, I went so far as to honestly believe the article switched “happiest” with “unhappiest” by mistake. In general, I don’t know too many unhappy people when it comes to their personal employment. Perhaps I’ve lived a sheltered existence during my eleven years in Minnesota, but this eye-catching headline drew me in.
According to the article, the information was based on the analysis of more than 200,000 independent company reviews and highlighted which cities had the happiest workers. San Jose, California earned the title of happiest city in which to work. St. Paul earned the title of unhappiest city, ranking low on all eight factors that measured job satisfaction levels: growth opportunities, compensation, benefits, work-life balance, career advancement, senior management, job security, and whether the employee would recommend the company to others. “There is never just one factor that contributes to overall work happiness,” says Heidi Golledge, co-founder and CEO of CareerBliss.
I still hold my ground in claiming that most folks I know do have real job satisfaction and have no plans to leave their jobs due to their employment situation. They are pleased with where they are and what they’re doing. I’d go so far as to say I can count on one hand the number of people I know who would rank all eight job factors in this study as being “low.”
Do I need to take the rose-colored glasses off and see this article for what it is reporting? Is my experience an anomaly? Are people who work west of the Mississippi River really that much happier than those on the east side? What are your feelings? Share your comments below and let us know.