Data suggests that a growing number of American workers resent their companies’ leaders. There is no single cause for the employees’ dissatisfaction, but rather a number of contentious issues: Widening income gaps, work flexibility, representation, and perceived discrimination, to name a few. This employee-employer divergence has been dubbed ‘The Great Workplace Divide’.
According to the most recent FlexJobs’ Employee & Executive Divide Survey, 80% of workers think that CEOs are overpaid. The study’s authors believe that workers’ critical opinions of CEOs salaries are likely rooted in two opposing trends in corporate America: workers’ salaries have largely stagnated or grown little in recent years, while CEO salaries have grown steadily. As of February of this year, the average CEO was paid almost 200 times that of the average employee.
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It’s not just that workers think CEOs are paid too much, many seem to believe that they are downright incompetent. Close to 70% of surveyed workers say that the CEO of their company “could not handle” their job for a week. To be fair, a competent CEO doesn’t need to know how to do every job in their organization—there are some very niche skills. So it’s possible that not all those in the 70% were giving their CEOs votes of low confidence.
The study also reveals that many workers might have reasons to disapprove of their companies’ workplace cultures. Seventy-five percent of workers report having experienced or knowing someone who has experienced bias or discrimination at work. Specifically, 42% say they’ve faced workplace discrimination, and 33% say they know someone who has experienced workplace discrimination. Notably, 10% more of women report issues of bias than men.
Interestingly, despite 75% of workers reporting instances of bias at work, a much lower number (53%) reported prioritizing DEI in their career decisions. Specifically, 28% of women and 16% of men said DEI was very important, and 27% of both women and men said DEI was somewhat important.
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