Times are pretty good, as 86% of today's engineers
say they're generally satisfied in their current job. But
not everyone feels the same. Which engineers are
most likely to be unhappy? On the surface, they
appear to be typical engineers in terms of age, gender,
race, hours worked, and years of experience. However,
disgruntled engineers are more likely to be underpaid
and/or work for larger organizations (those with annual
revenues averaging $3.2 billion).
In fact, these professionals typically take home
about $18,000 less than their peers - and they know
it: 66% say their compensation package is less competitive
than what other employers are paying, and on
average they estimate this undercompensation to be
about 21%. To make matters worse, they received less
than a 1% increase in salary this year. They're also
less likely to believe that their compensation is appropriately
tied to their personal performance, which
gives them another reason to feel underappreciated.
Not surprisingly, 78% of engineers who say they are
unhappy in their jobs also feel a career path in engineering
isn't as promising as it was five years ago.
Only 17% of these respondents said they are being
challenged intellectually by the projects they're working
on. Also noteworthy is the fact that the companies
these engineers work for are less likely to offer stock
options, further education and training, and tuition
reimbursement.
Outsourcing is a big source of concern with the disenchanted,
as 66% say their company outsources
engineering work, 47% say they're worried about losing
their job to outsourcing, and 42% say these outsourcing
worries actually keep them up at night. "The
major focus at my present company is to move hardware
engineering jobs to Mexico, software engineering
jobs to India, and component engineering to China,"
said one engineer. "Even the teams still in North America
are being shrunk as facility consolidation continues
to result in the closing of design centers."
Our 2007 Reader Survey also found the following
characteristics to be typical for dissatisfied engineers:
- 37% are dealing with staff reductions
- 49% have concerns about their own job security
- 30% are worried about the financial health of their company and about the economy in general
- 35% fret over age discrimination
- 39% suffered through permanent staff layoffs this year
- 47% have seen an increased workload due to
staff cuts
- 36% have had projects cancelled
- 43% have experienced budget cuts
- 31% have been affected by salary freezes
- 28% have been affected by hiring freezes
- 61% never had the opportunity to work in their dream job, and 57% have given up hope on ever
being able to do so
- 25% are actively seeking a new position