As part of my research for my upcoming book, I conducted an unscientific online survey regarding employees’ attitudes toward working in Corporate America today. So far, 140 people have filled out the survey (in addition to the 70+ people that I have interviewed one on one) and the results have been very interesting. Just to give you a taste of the big picture…

What are the best things about working in Corporate America?

• Salary — 70.2%

• Health insurance — 64.9%

• Sense of job stability — 29.8%

What are the worst things about working in Corporate America?

• Too much bureaucracy and/or office politics — 53.1%

• Difficult and/or incompetent bosses and/or coworkers — 42.3%

• Lack of work/life balance — 40.8%

The top 3 "best thing" answers don’t surprise me, though it is a shame that things like "interesting work" and "meaningful work" didn’t make much of a showing. Then again, we all have to put food on the table and most of us didn’t get into corporate work for the thrills.

In terms of the "worst things," I think it’s pretty interesting that bureaucracy and annoying bosses/coworkers seem to bug people more than seemingly more serious issues like overwork and lack of work/life balance. I think a lot of people underestimate how frustrating a bureaucratic environment can be. Bureaucracy can seem funny and harmless in Dilbert cartoons, but it can also slowly but surely drive you insane in real life. I’ve actually been conducting a lot of research on bureaucracy and its insidious effect on corporate innovation and culture (this research is actually a lot more interesting than it probably sounds).

I will post more results from the survey in the future — including some interesting job satisfaction stats and info about those who escaped from Corporate America and why/how they went about it. In the meantime, if you’re interested in voicing your opinions on corporate life, you can still check out the Escape from Corporate America survey.