It’s official: staff at small and medium-sized enterprises are happier than those at big companies.
It’s official: staff at small and medium-sized enterprises are happier than those at big companies.
That’s despite the fact they face higher accident rates, have fewer training opportunities and receive less pay, finds research from Warwick Business School.
So why are they more satisfied with their working lives? Professor Francis Greene, co-author of the research, suggests that it might be because there are fewer rules and procedures in SMEs and work tasks are more varied.
As someone who’s always worked in growing companies, or at least small ones, I find that a convincing analysis. Of course, life isn’t a bed of roses, and I’ve seen colleagues from large-company backgrounds struggle with the idea that there is nobody to go to the photocopier for them or order their stationery. But the skills you learn and your proximity to key decision makers inside a smaller company often make it an exciting experience.
Growing companies are driven by people, not processes. Things are only going to get done when dynamic individuals push them through, not through memos and meetings. Conversely, those same dynamic individuals may struggle at larger companies to effect the changes they see are needed.
A friend of mine who worked at a large global publishing house once told me about an initiative the company embarked on to encourage innovative thinking in its workforce. Prizes were to be awarded for disruptive ideas that would really make a difference to the business.
A good way to bring smaller-company dynamism into the corporate world, you might think. But unfortunately, things didn’t quite work out like that. There were plenty of ideas, but the most daring and disruptive were ignored, with the prizes going to those who came up with helpful tweaks to the status quo. The company didn’t go quite as far as Chairman Mao in his ‘hundred flowers’ campaign, punishing those who accepted his invitation to disagree, but it certainly killed off any remnants of motivation in its more entrepreneurial employees.
SMEs don’t have any trouble encouraging that kind of thinking: it’s there already in abundance and it’s the fuel that drives the company forward.
