Carpool to Nirvana Factoids

  • IDEAL WORKPLACE (back to article)

    • According to a Gallup Poll, six in ten American workers would continue to work even if they won $10 million, though only 35% overall would stay at the same job.
      (Gallup News Service Poll released August 29, 1997 by David W. Moore)

    • A Yahoo! Careers poll found that more than 1/4 of the site's users rate "doing work that makes a difference" as the most critical factor in job happiness.

    • Nearly 30% of Yahoo! Careers users aren't doing their dream jobs because they don't even know what their dream job is!

      Yahoo! Careers survey of 1000 web users.
      Enter Yahoo! Fantasy Careers Contest

  • HOG HEAVEN (Kansas City, MO) (back to article)

    • More than two-thirds of employees want to have more input or recognition to better their work performance, compared to less than one-third who say they want more pay.
      ("Employees' Attitudes Toward Their Jobs and Quality Improvement Programs," 1990 Gallup survey conducted for the American Society for Quality Control).
    • 70% of employees are afraid to speak up at work.
       (Hammond, J. & Morrison, J. "The stuff Americans are made of," Macmillan Publishing, 1996)
    • Recent studies have shown that large companies see a 90% increase in return on assets and a 10% increase in shareholder wealth when they increase by 1/3 the use of human resource management tools commonly found in HPWO (high performance work organizations), such as results-oriented performance appraisals, employee decision-making, and employment security compacts.
      (High Performance Work Systems and Firm Performance: A Synthesis of Research and Managerial Implications, Brian E. Becker and Mark A. Huselid, Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, Volume 15, pages 53-101, copyright 1998)

    • One out of four workers say that if they could do so, they would fire their boss, according to a Gallup Poll.
      (Gallup News Service Poll released August 29, 1997 by David W. Moore)
  • MY NEW DESK, (Minneapolis, MN) (back to article)

    • Definition: Repetitive Stress Injuries (RSI) (sometimes referred to as Repeated Trauma Disorder, Cumulative Trauma Disorders or Repetitive Motion Injuries) occur when repeated physical movements damage tendons, nerves, muscles and other soft body tissues. These injuries can result in carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, bursitis and other potentially debilitating disorders.

    • RSI is the fastest growing occupational illness; from 1982 to 1995, reported cases rose more than 1000 percent from 23,000 to 308,000. And RSI conditions cause 640,000 workers a year to miss time on the job.
      (U.S. DOL, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Compensation and Working Conditions Online,"
      Summer 1997, Vol. 2, No. 2; Pear, R. "U.S. acts to cut aches on the job," The New York Times, Feb. 20, 1999.)
    • In 1996, RSI cost employers $15 - $20 billion in workers' compensation costs in 1995 and $45 - $60 billion more in indirect costs.
      (U.S. DOL, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, "Preventing Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders," Feb. 1999.)
    • More than half of the occupational illnesses reported in private industry in 1997 were disorders associated with repeated trauma, such as carpal tunnel syndrome and noise induced hearing loss
       (U.S. DOL, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Workplace Injuries and Illnesses in 1997" Dec. 17, 1998, p.4.)
  • YOLANDA.WORLD (Redwood City, CA) (back to article)

    • Baby Boomers stay on the job twice as long as Generation X-ers.
      (U.S. DOL, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, Feb. 1998.)

    • For the most part, Americans say they like computers and technology: 61% say they like computers; 6% dislike them, and 26% have mixed opinions .
      (The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, "The Internet News Audience Goes Ordinary," survey based on 3,184 adults, released Jan. 14, 1999)
    • Over 2 million total jobs worldwide are expressly related to internet business
      (ActivMedia Reseach, "Real Numbers Behind Net Profits" 1999 report.)

    • In 1997, Americans worked ten more (median) hours per week than they did in 1973, while they gave up almost seven hours of leisure time per week.
      (The Wall Street Journal Almanac, original source Louis Harris & Associates survey, 1998)

    • The typical married-couple family worked 247 more hours (more than six weeks) per year in 1996 than in 1989, despite an 8% growth in the economy's productive capacity over the same period. .
      (Economic Policy Institute, New Report on Working America released 1/1/99.)

    • About 50% of Americans say society puts too much emphasis on work and not enough on leisure.
      (Saltzman, A. "When less is more," U.S. News and World Report, Oct. 27, 1997, from a 1997 poll conducted with Bozell Worldwide)

    • Nearly one-third of Americans have seriously contemplated not seeking or turning down a promotion to have more time off.
      (Saltzman, A. "When less is more," U.S. News and World Report, Oct. 27, 1997, from a 1997 poll conducted with Bozell Worldwide)