A majority of Canadians say they are happy in their jobs and financially comfortable. Yet more than half believe others are not satisfied with their work and are struggling to make ends meet.
These are the surprising findings of two recent surveys, called the MESSI (Measuring Employment Sentiments and Social Inequality), which were conducted by research firms Angus Reid Global and YouGov. Since 2019, the MESSI project has surveyed more than 42,000 Canadians and Americans on their views about work and money.
“I call it a perception glitch,” said Scott Schieman, a professor of sociology at the University of Toronto who led the surveys. “Not to say that everything’s perfect, but things aren’t as dark as the pervasive narrative suggests.”
Schieman, who studies how people think, feel and talk about their careers, says a sensationalist narrative in social media and news media can exacerbate people’s negative perceptions of work and job earnings.
In the wake of the pandemic, “people were celebrating this kind of ‘I quit’ orientation on social media, boasting about how ‘I told my boss off and then walked out’,” said Schieman.
But that is not the way most people feel, he says. In surveys, they would say things like, ‘I like my boss.’
“People express [themselves] to me in the interviews … that they almost feel ashamed to say positive things about their work, because it’s almost like it seems like you’re boasting,” he said.
‘Perception glitch’
The surveys, which have yet to be published in a formal report, looked at how Canadians and Americans felt about their jobs and earnings in 2024. The two surveys, which are part of an ongoing study, polled more than 5,000 workers and were nationally representative.
During and after the pandemic, there was a widespread perception that people were unhappy in their jobs, Schieman says. Many people were said to be voluntarily quitting — a phenomenon dubbed “the great resignation.”
“Most of that narrative was … there’s awfulness at work, bad bosses, miserable conditions, unfair pay, lack of flexibility,” said Schieman. “A laundry list of negativity that created an air of badness around work.”
Schieman’s survey results tell a different story. Most Canadian respondents — about 80 per cent — reported feeling satisfied with their own jobs.
But about half said they believed other workers do not like their jobs. Schieman refers to this nearly 30 point gap as the “perception glitch.”
Three-quarter of respondents said they were surprised to learn how most other workers are satisfied with their jobs.
“Why are you surprised?” Schieman asked the participants. “The number one answer is everybody complains all the time about their jobs on social media.”
This perception glitch extends to financial health. A second survey showed 70 per cent of Canadians say they had rarely or never had insufficient money to pay household bills. But 43 per cent of Canadian respondents said they believe others frequently cannot afford basic necessities.
This pessimistic outlook can affect people’s feelings about how the country is run, says Schieman.
“You can see how if people think everything’s much worse than it really is, somebody’s going to pay for that, and it’s going to be the politicians in charge,” said Schieman. “There could be political consequences — could be consequences for [people’s] trust or faith in institutions,” said Schieman.
As one example, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said this week that Ottawa’s two-month GST holiday is intended to curb a “vibecession” — a national feeling of malaise about the economy.
Status vs. Signal
Many factors play into how workers feel about their jobs.
Schieman says one important factor is people’s ability to see the results of their work in a way that feels personal to the worker.
“That doesn’t necessarily just mean high-status professional jobs,” he said. “I hear that from people who are working in service jobs … jobs that people would consider more blue collar. In fact, often they’re the ones that are like, ‘I feel like I’m making something. I feel like I can see the results of my work’, as opposed to people that are [working with] spreadsheets.”
Other important factors, he says, are good relationships between management and employees and an employee’s level of control over their work.
Other research has pointed to different factors that affect how people feel about their work.
In a 2020 study, Simon Fraser University professors Brian Krauth and Mohsen Javdani found that learning that a co-worker earns a higher salary can lead to workplace dissatisfaction. In an interview, Krauth referred to this as the “status effect.”
However, the study also identified a countervailing “signaling effect,” where knowledge of a co-worker’s higher salary leads to hopes of salary increases in the future.
“You typically find a bigger signaling effect in firms with pay-equity policies,” Krauth said.
Signaling effects were found to be smaller among racialized employees.
“These same comparisons may highlight an insurmountable gap, reinforcing feelings of marginalization and alienation,” said Javdani.
Schieman’s research has also found that negative job experiences can spur stronger relationships between co-workers.
“People also bond over negativity,” he said. “I’ve eavesdropped on conversations at cafés, and two people will go out and … they’re disclosing things about work, and then they’re problem-solving with each other, and how they can overcome it.
“It’s a negative thing, but it actually has an indirect positive consequence of bringing people together.”
