29% of U.S. workers want 'interesting work'

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Sep 9, 2007 | by Compiled by John MacIntyre

Percentage of U.S. workers who said "interesting work" best describes what they want most in their next position, according to a study conducted by BlessingWhite: 29

Percentage who said "meaningful work": 18

Percentage who said "work-life balance": 18

Percentage who said "financial reward": 14

Source: BlessingWhite

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Percentage of surveyed companies that report their business was impacted by the exposure of sensitive or embarrassing information in the last year, according to a study by e-mail security and data loss prevention company Proofpoint Inc.: 26.3

Percentage of companies that investigated a suspected e-mail leak of confidential or proprietary information: 33.8

Percentage of the largest enterprises (20,000 employees or more) that reported that employee e-mail was subpoenaed in the last 12 months: 29.1

Source: Proofpoint Inc.

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Percentage of U.S. workers who say they have switched careers, according to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press: 61

Percentage of U.S. workers who say they have switched careers two or more times: 39

Source: Pew Research Center for People and the Press

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Average amount the ultra-rich (household net worth exceeds $10 million) are expected to have spent on luxury yacht rentals in summer 2007, according to a study conducted by Elite Traveler/ Prince & Associates: $384,000

Source: Elite Traveler

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Percentage of small businesses that say they are very dependent on one or two key people for their success and viability, according to research conducted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners: 71

Percentage that have "key person" life insurance, a type of policy that enables a business to weather the death of a key employee or buy out the key person's heirs if ownership rights are involved: 22

Source: National Association of Insurance Commissioners

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Percentage of U.S. students attending college who ranked "making ends meet financially" as their No. 1 concern, according to a study conducted by Key Bank: 25

Percentage who ranked "workload" as their No. 1 concern: 20

Source: Key Bank

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Percentage of U.S. workers who think they will continue to get paid in the event of a natural disaster, according to a study conducted by the American Payroll Association: 52

Source: American Payroll Association

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Percentage of small-business owners who say that better organization of business and personal priorities is the work- related factor that best helps them achieve work-life balance: 29

Percentage who say hiring and retaining competent employees who could assume some responsibilities: 21

Ranks of better organizing business and personal priorities, and hiring and retaining competent employees that could assume some responsibilities among factors cited as contributing most positively to work-life balance: 1, 2

Source: MasterCard

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Percentage of Americans who got a massage last year who say it's for relaxation or stress reduction, according to a survey commissioned by the American Massage Therapy Association: 26

Percentage who say it was to pamper themselves: 11

Percentage of those surveyed who say they get massage therapy for medical/health reasons specifically: 30

Estimated amount of money that Americans spent in the search for relief from back pain: $25 billion

Source: American Massage Therapy Association

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Percentage of workers who said it's important for managers to have a sense of humor, according to a Robert Half International survey: 97

Source: Robert Half International

John MacIntyre has been writing Figuratively Speaking since 1989. You can contact him by e-mail at johnmacintyre@bwr.eastlink.ca.