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

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more female workers than males state the atmosphere to be good 1 . At the other
extreme, on the other hand, the percentages who are dissatisfied show no differences
between the genders. An examination by age group reveals that the
young people have a more critical attitude toward the work atmosphere than
the older ones. Somewhat over half (54 %) of the under-30s considered the
atmosphere good, a smaller proportion than for the older age groups. The most
dissatisfied, correspondingly, were found among the young people. One in
five young people (20 %) saw the working atmosphere as poor, while 13-15 %
of the respondents in the other age groups were of this view.
As in Latvia, also in Lithuania the atmosphere at the workplaces has, generally
speaking, definitely deteriorated. Slightly less than half (48 %) of the Lithuanian
working people assess it as good, while at the same time about one-fifth
(21 %) feel that it is poor. These proportions for Lithuania differ clearly from
those for the other two Baltic countries. In particular, the fact that the percentage
who are dissatisfied has almost doubled in three years is rather alarming.
It has already been seen that job satisfaction is considerably more prevalent in
Lithuania's public sector than in its private sector. In the case of workplace
atmosphere, however, no such gap is observable: in both sectors, slightly less
than half the personnel state it to be either very good or quite good. The percentages
of dissatisfied persons, too, hardly differ according to sector. It was
also stated above that the women in Lithuania were more satisfied with their
jobs than the men were. In regard to atmosphere at the workplace, though,
there are no significant differences between the genders. An examination by
age group indicates that the oldest working people (those 50 and over) are
more satisfied with their jobs and also with the work atmosphere than the
younger ones are. Rather more than half (55 %) of the oldest group considered
the atmosphere at the workplace as good.
RELATIONS BETWEEN WORK COLLEAGUES
Relations between workers constitute one important factor associated with job
satisfaction. They have already been touched upon above in the discussion of
workplace atmosphere, but here the subject is dealt with in greater detail. Two
1 Of the women, 35 % felt the work atmosphere to be very good and 26 % quite good. Among the
men, 27 % regarded it as very good and 29 % as quite good.