Working Life Barometer in the Baltic Countries 2002 (pdf) - mol.fi

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most satisfied of all. The gaps between the age groups are small, however. In
Estonia and Latvia, age bears no relation to job satisfaction.
In what follows, job satisfaction is studied in somewhat more detail. The simple
question, "How satisfied are you with your present job?" has proved surprisingly
difficult to interpret - or, rather, the responses are too imprecise due
to the general nature of the question. In Finland, for instance, respondents
commonly answer that they are quite satisfied, but a closer scrutiny of the
matter reveals that it is typically a case of accepting the prevailing state of affairs,
maybe even becoming passive and resigning oneself to the circumstances.
Often, the same persons who state that they are quite satisfied, experience
their work as excessively stressful and the workplace atmosphere as
problematic, and are rather dissatisfied with many other aspects furthermore.
On one questionnaire form, the respondent had in fact written beside the question
whether one was satisfied with one's job the enlightening comment ”I
have to be”.
ATMOSPHERE AT THE WORKPLACE
An enquiry concerning the workplace atmosphere and changes in it in recent
years showed that in Estonia, there had been progress in a positive direction.
There were more satisfied persons, and fewer dissatisfied, than in the preceding
study. Nearly two-thirds (64 %) of the working people were at least
somewhat satisfied with the atmosphere at their workplace. Almost one-third
(30 %) of the respondents were even very satisfied. Those who were dissatisfied
totalled 10 %. The percentages missing from the graph represent those
respondents who did not consider the atmosphere to be good anymore than
bad, or were unable to answer the question at all. The graph shows only the
proportions of those who evaluated the work atmosphere as either good or
bad.
In Estonia, as in the case of job satisfaction, there are no significant differences
between male and female workers regarding experiences of workplace
atmosphere. In all the age groups, a clear majority consider the work atmosphere
to be good. The youngest age group (the under-30s) has the most (71 %)
who are satisfied with the atmosphere. About one in ten respondents in each
age group consider it poor. Neither are there any significant gaps in work at-