With a second title of “These online polls are tricky…”
I thought it might be interesting to start the year off with an assessment of how people felt about their current employment situation.
And what better way to do that than take a poll, right?
Apparently most people are currently looking for a new opportunity – but asking for two responses on a poll is perhaps too tricky for internet users. Come along and have a look at the results with me…
Asking two questions
I’m sure this is right up there at the beginning of the “Complete Guide to Conducting Polls”, but I figured I’d give it a try anyway.
I wanted to find out how satisfied readers were with their current job / work life and if they were either staying put or looking for something new. (because I thought the one bit of information without the other might be less useful)
And because I use a free WordPress platform with zero budget for add-ons, I don’t have the ability to ask two questions within a poll – just the one.
But I can allow people to give more than one answer…
So I said “[Vote on what you’re doing and if you’re staying put or looking]“.
And apparently that was a bit confusing to the readers because only 40% of those that responded to the poll gave more than one answer… More than half of the poll takers that identified their level of satisfaction failed to express whether they were looking for something new or not, and a third of the people that answered if they were looking or not failed to express their current job satisfaction.
Well – it’s hard to draw statistically valid conclusions when the polling process varies by that much – but don’t think I’ll let that stop me!
Charts and such
Readers are really going to be impressed – it’s a double-chart month!
But wait – there’s more – I’m using 3-D effects for both a pie chart and a bar graph. So get your funky glasses out and read on! (No, you don’t actually need 3-D glasses to read these charts, but I think you look better when you’re wearing your funky glasses, so put them on anyway)
Last month’s question – visitors were asked to respond to this:
How Satisfied are you with your current job / work life? [Vote on what you’re doing and if you’re staying put or looking]
Results of 2012 Job Satisfaction Poll
Results of 2012 Job Intentions Poll
Majority looking for something new!
Prefaced only by the fact that the poll response mechanism was definitely flawed, I have to mention how significant it is that more than four out of every 5 workers report that they are looking for something new!
Sure, sure, it’s true that this poll contains as many flaws as every other online poll out there, but this is shocking news.
I’m absolutely certain that every major news site will soon be reporting that a cadre of unhappy workers are all looking for something better.
Now this isn’t a problem if EVERY employer is equally crappy, but I think that some employers have a clue. And guess what – by the time this round of musical chairs is over, those employers are going to attract the very best workers.
If you’d like to hold on to your bright, energetic, and productive workers, you might want to take note…
Next up – Are you happy?
That’s right – I’m returning to one of the simplest polls you could take – are you happy at this very moment?
But naturally, I didn’t want to ask just about your happiness – because you could be sad instead. Or both happy and sad (I’m not sure how, but some of my readers might be conflicted about my use of the 3-D charts or something). And you might just be blasé, neither happy nor sad. So – no matter your situation, I’ve got a poll selection for you. Please let us know by answering.
Find it just over to the right.
To your continued success,
steve
—
Steven Tylock
http://www.linkedinpersonaltrainer.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevetylock