In a good number of studies on work environment carried out in various companies, it is usually concluded that the work environment recognized by employees is of an average level. And this, far from reassuring the promoters of the measurement, confuses them when it does not alarm them.
How can this situation be explained? Is it that the workers lie? Or is it perhaps that the measuring instruments are inadequate and unreliable? Let's examine a few reasons for these results.
This average-level climate produced by workers from different organizations can be explained, first of all, by the ability of employees to adapt to their work activity no matter how varied, pleasant or complex it may be. This would be a characteristic of our work culture in Latin America, as several authors maintain. With these average level scores, those evaluated recognize redeemable aspects of their employment, for example, being a source of relative stability, social prestige, money, among other benefits.
Likewise, a deficit labor market, with an oversupply, imposes conformity to those who fit within it and makes them accept the location achieved with all its advantages and disadvantages.
This stoicism with which, even today, a sector of our Economically Active Population accepts their working conditions has been cultivated for a long time. As is known, until the 1990s Latin America experienced a severe economic and social crisis in the form of high unemployment, hyperinflation, state bankruptcy, and violence.
This context led the population to prefer the apparent security of a job, perhaps precarious, over personal and professional development. Some statistics still show that the lower the socio-economic level the time spent in a job is longer. Proof of this is that young people from emerging sectors take longer to change jobs.
An analysis of the last Peruvian population census allows to conclude the following. 14% of the young population between 15 and 29 years of age is unemployed. This rate is double that of the older population. 64% do low-skilled jobs. 57% of them have jobs of low quality and productivity. And 52% of young people who work lack health insurance. These facts explain the high attachment to work, even if it is unstable or temporary.
The elements that mark the positive judgment about the employment that one has go beyond low wages and strenuous hours. Most of those interviewed in various climate studies highly appreciated their work and even exaggerated its importance because of the personal autonomy it supposedly conferred on them.
In sum, while these factors may explain the workers' approval of the prevailing climate in their companies, they should not reassure their managers. What is required is to make a thorough and thorough analysis of the behavior of managers and leaders of the organizations, since they are the ones who build the climate with their daily behavior and often unconsciously.
It is this climate that colors the daily relationships between employees. Pressure from bosses and precarious jobs elicit conformity but not commitment.
