Job values in today's workforce: A comparison of public and private sectoremployees

Unlike workers in the '70s and '80s who valued interesting work above every thing else, the results of this study suggest today's workers place the hig hest value on good wages and job security. A comparison of public and priva te sector workers revealed private sector workers place the highest value o n good wages, while public sector workers valued interesting work the most. No significant difference was found between public and private sector empl oyees in the importance placed on job security. These results suggest emplo yers need to keep in touch with current employee values in order to design jobs, reward systems, and human resource policies that will result in maxim um job satisfaction and productivity. These results also suggest that rewar d systems may not be equally effective in both the public and private secto rs.