6/23/2016, June 2016 Issue -- In 1987, the Conference Board, a New York-based nonprofit research group conducted a job satisfaction survey. Since then, the survey has become a regular occurrence, the most recent conducted in 2014. In its first year, 61 percent of workers said they liked their jobs. That number fell over the years, reaching an all-time low in 2010 after the Great Recession with only 42.6 percent satisfied with their jobs. The survey went on to cover various elements of a person's job including job security, wages, vacation policies, health and retirement plans and sick leave, among others. All elements pointed to a downward trend, showing that workers were happier in 1987 than they are today.  

Mobile Electronics recently sent out a similar survey to try to identify how the industry feels about many such elements. 41 questions were asked with topics that included professional development, career advancement, enthusiasm for work, overall shop attitude, compensation, relationship between management and employees, various benefits and job security, among others. The majority of those surveyed are owners (40 percent) with lead installation technicians coming in second (15 percent) and regular installers (10 percent) coming in third. 131 people were surveyed in total.

The survey reflected opinions from some of the top retailers and installers in the industry, including Top 12 list-makers Jeff Cantrell of 660 Audio, Josh Mojica of GNC Customs and Matt Cropper of Stereo King. As an industry, finding quality employees has been one of the most talked-about struggles of the modern age. To solve it, various industry participants were interviewed to gather their take on what the information represents and how best to use it to improve the industry's practices related to job satisfaction.

Work Hard, Play Harder

Out of 113 people surveyed on being satisfied with opportunities for professional growth, 42 (about 37 percent) are satisfied. At the same time, while 30 percent agree they are pleased with the career advancement opportunities available to them, about 26 percent are neutral and roughly 20 percent disagree. Those figures seem to suggest that while the majority of people surveyed are owners, they and their employees feel there is plenty of room to grow their skill sets but not a lot of room to advance their careers.

As president of K40 Electronics, one of the industry's top radar detection companies, one could say that Peggy Finley is an expert regarding happiness at her company. When she took over as president the company had high turnover and low morale. She transformed it into a positive work environment where the concept of "work hard, play hard" is center stage. Her style earned her a "Top 10 Bosses To Work For" Award from Small Business Magazine.

"We have a really open, transparent policy with our retailers. We also have it inside the company. If you walk inside the building, there are no walls. My office is all glass," Finley said. "There are no hidden agendas or hidden product defects. If there's an issue with the product everybody knows it."

When asked whether communication between senior leaders and employees is good in their organization, 20 percent disagreed, while 28 percent were neutral and 32 percent agreed. At the same time, when asked if management within the organization recognizes strong job performance, 40 percent agree, while only 18 percent were neutral and 12 percent disagree. This may imply that while communication isn't always as high as some would like, recognition of a job well done is usually noted correctly. In contrast, when mistakes happen, it's management's responsibility not to overreact.

"The culture is punishment free. No one is waiting to get in trouble for anything. It's a culture that I think promotes creativity. We don't call it problem solving. I would say it's a creative environment," Finley said of K40's culture. "We have an opportunity to be creative together without fear that we might do something wrong. It's an opportunity to learn from decisions we make and to make better decisions. One of the things that happens is the genius engineers design the product and give it to sales people to sell. They have objections because they are on front line. When we design a product, we get several retailers involved and salespeople involved. So it's very cooperative and all-inclusive."

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