世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s a pair of surveys that were too short to be separate articles and not quite silly enough for Sundays, so I’ll just post them now as the results have a few talking points in them. As usual, goo Ranking conducted the surveys, one on what cost-saving measures people wish their employer would introduce, and what secret struggles people are engaged in at work.

Demographics

For the first survey, between the 23rd and 25th of June 2008 1,014 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.1% of the sample were male, 6.5% in their teens, 14.5% in their twenties, 31.0% in their thirties, 28.1% in their forties, 11.1% in their fifties, and 8.8% aged sixty or older. For the second survey, between the 25th and 28th of July 2008 1,072 members of the goo Research online monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.3% of the sample were male, 5.7% in their teens, 14.4% in their twenties, 31,0% in their thirties, 28.1% in their forties, 10.5% in their fifties, and 10.4% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

My company doesn’t pay overtime; to be precise, there is a fixed amount of overtime built into one’s salary, 18 hours per month, I think. However, if I work past 10 pm (I only ever do that when I have teleconferences from home) they pay a measely time-and-a-quarter. The telephone meetings usually last under an hour, so I would never, ever, dream of claiming the scheduled two hours.

Back to cost-saving; it would have to be business trips for my team, followed by changing the budgeting system so that the team doesn’t lose its budget if it doesn’t spend all its allocation by the end of the year, leading to a lot of pointless purchasing in the weeks leading up to then.

My secret battle is… ahh, it’s secret, as there’s a chance he reads this blog. The other one is timing using all the hot water in the kettle by lunchtime so my colleague cannot make a cup of coffee during the lunch break and disturb my peace and quiet by SLURPING ALL THE *!%$ING TIME!!1!1!111!

Ranking results

Q1: What cost-saving measures do you wish your employer would introduce? (Sample size=1,014)

Rank		Score
1	No overtime	100
2	No holiday working	86.5
3	Raise air-conditioner temperature setting	76.5
4	Use both sides of paper when photocopying	73.6
5	Use email instead of fax whereever possible	69.5
6	Use recycled paper for photocopying	65.1
7	Switch off lights and computers at lunchtime	63.0
8	Review the holding of annual events	61.3
9	No taxi tickets (free rides after last train)	52.8
10	Replace paper archives with electronic ones	51.3

Q2: What secret struggles are you involved in at work? (Sample size=1,072)

Rank		Score
1	Air conditioner temperature setting	100
2=	Leaving work at the scheduled time	66.3
2=	Answering, not answering the phone	66.3
4	Timing escapes from the office bore	45.9
5	Adjust scheduling to allow long holiday	40.8
6	Not being the last one out of the office	33.7
7=	Getting the easy work to do	23.5
7=	Being the boss’s favourite	23.5
7=	Refilling the photocopier paper	23.5
10	Being the first in to work	16.3