Wednesday, October 15, 2003

It's off to the office supply store for me

Getting Ahead | Want Happy Employees? Break Out the Purple Pens!
TRUMBULL, Conn. -- For Charlie Brown, happiness was a warm puppy. But according to a new survey of 645 American workers, happiness on the job is having a dozen or more pens crammed into your desk drawer.

In fact, 85% of American workers with six or more pens at their work station said they found their job to be a satisfying one, compared to just 74% of Americans overall, according to the survey, conducted by Pilot Pen Corp. of America.

And the more pens the merrier. While 21% of the work force overall is out looking for a better job, only 12% of those with more than one dozen pens at their beck and call are out job-seeking.

For companies looking to hire, the world belongs to users of purple pens (the color of the ink, not the pen itself). That's because, when asked to say whether their boss was 100% happy with their work, 85% of employees who use purple pens -- or use them at least occasionally -- said their boss is 100% satisfied with their job performance compared to just 73% of the work force overall. And helpful? Fully 82% of workers using purple pens say they try to help their bosses even when not specifically asked, compared to just 67% of workers overall.

"We don't quite know what all this means," admits Ron Shaw, president and chief executive officer of Pilot Pen. "Frankly, we're quite flummoxed. But overall, we think it's all good."

Does that mean I can edit my purple blog at work?

(Found it at Purple Pen, of course.) (Not to be confused with this Purple Pen, which isn't even purple.)

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