Sounds like those who have jobs are not really digging what they are doing.  CNNMoney.com reported that fewer than half of U.S. workers are satisfied with their current jobs according to a recent survey by The Conference Board.  This is the lowest level since record-keeping began 22 years ago.

The survey polled 5,000 households and discovered only 45% were satisfied in their jobs compared to 61.1 % in 1987 when the first survey was conducted.

The significant drop in satisfaction over the past 22 years covers various aspects of employee life, including interest in work and job security and crosses all four of the key drivers of employee engagement: job design, organizational health, managerial quality, and extrinsic rewards. In addition, it spans both the economic boom and bust periods. Employees in every age group and income levels showed a drop despite big improvements in the work environment, such as a reduction of workplace hazards and an increase in vacation days, but workers younger than 25 were the most unhappy in their jobs.

Key points to note include the decline by 18.9% in employee’s interest in work and the decline by 17.5% in perception of job security; almost one-quarter of respondents said they didn’t expect to be at their current jobs within a year.

The implications are critical for all levels of businesses because this dissatisfaction ultimately impacts overall engagement and productivity of employees.  The baby boomers, which will represent 25% of the workforce by 2018, are those we’ve watched become increasingly dissatisfied over the past 22 years.  When you add to that the dissatisfaction by the younger generation, you have a serious situation that must be dealt with.  The implications for knowledge transfer, or the lack thereof, between these generations will have major impacts on businesses. It also has major implications for employee retention.

Now is the critical time to start thinking about how your business is address this issue.  How are you going to improve upon your employee’s interest in their work, perceptions regarding their job security, job design, organizational health, managerial quality, and extrinsic rewards?