Office life: 80% of employees at small businesses are very happy at work
updated the 14 July 2015 à 18:33A study was carried out on the stress levels of employees in very small enterprises. And the verdict might surprise you…
A social protection observatory studied the level of stress of employees working in very small companies. The results of the study revealed a paradox: the employees of very small companies (less than 10 employees) complain less about stress than those of other bigger companies, while they have on average a longer working week and a lower average wage.
EMPLOYEES MORE ATTACHED TO THEIR EMPLOYER
77% of the employees think that the work environment is better compared to other larger companies and 80% claim to be happy at work. Furthermore, 41% of the employees feel attached to their employer, as opposed to 27% in larger companies. The employees of very small companies are not less exposed to stress, but several practices used within the structure of the company contribute to decreasing the negative impact on their health. Such as the closeness between employees and their manager; the possibility of resolving conflicts in an informal way; the sharing of common values on work quality; the commitment within the company; and a greater autonomy to organize their work.
A DOUBLE-EDGED CLOSENESS
“In the very small companies, the quality of social interaction is much better,” explains the sociologist Marc Loriol, a researcher at the NATIONAL CENTER FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. This is a key point as it allows conflicts between individuals to be directly resolved. But be careful, an excess of closeness can create clashes that are difficult to denounce, particularly in times of an economic crisis. Finally, the impact on work can be excessive, or too much modesty can prevent talking about difficulties, especially for the manager who is stressed by economic constraints and is at risk of passing his/her stress on to employees.
Note that according to a study carried out by the organisation, OpinionWay, for Monster, more than 40% of people included said they would change jobs because of a bad working environment. Indeed, 25% of them would leave the company due to a conflict with a superior and 18% will do because of unbearable colleagues.
Fabienne Broucaret
