By and large, readers of Logistics Management enjoy the work they do. Ninety-three percent of the respondents to an exclusive survey conducted this past summer said they were happy on the job. When asked to rate their level of contentment, 47 percent described themselves as "very satisfied" and another 46 percent said they were "somewhat satisfied." Those percentages were comparable to the findings of a survey taken last year, when 49 percent said that they were "very satisfied" and another 45 percent were "satisfied" with their jobs.

Conversely, a small fraction—7 percent—of survey takers said that they were unhappy. By way of comparison, last year, 6 percent said that they were not satisfied with their jobs.

For the disgruntled minority in our survey, it appears that low pay was the prime cause for their unhappiness. When asked which factor most contributed to their job dissatisfaction, nearly half of the dissatisfied respondents cited inadequate compensation. Other main causes for discontent included the stressful nature of the work and a lack of opportunity for advancement. (See the accompanying chart for a full rundown.)

Survey respondents were also asked whether adequate opportunities existed for advancement in their company. Some 53 percent thought that they could advance their careers at their current place of employment, but the other 47 percent felt that their opportunities to move ahead were limited. Interestingly, those were the same percentages reported in last year's survey.

The majority of companies appear to offer opportunities for on-the-job training such as seminars, workshops and tuition reimbursement for outside classes—82 percent of the respondents said that their company provided these types of opportunities. However, it should be noted that the respondents felt that their employers really didn't have an option when it came to training because it was required for their jobs.

Our survey also indicated that logistics jobs had become more demanding in recent years. Some 92 percent of the survey respondents reported that their job responsibilities had increased over the past three years. When asked whether their company had compensated them for their increased workloads, only 49 percent said yes. Interestingly, in last year's survey, roughly the same percentage—93 percent—said workloads had increased, but back then, 58 percent reported that their pay had gone up to reflect the added responsibility.

Conducted this past summer, Logistics Management's job satisfaction survey was completed by 713 readers. The respondents included people with a variety of titles, including logistics managers (24 percent); traffic managers (14 percent); warehouse managers (12 percent); and operations managers (11 percent).

The majority of survey participants—59 percent—said they worked in a large organization. In fact, 38 percent of the respondents said they worked for an organization employing more than 1,000 people.

Some 33 percent of the respondents reported that they worked for large publicly held organizations and another 8 percent for small publicly held companies. Another large chunk of respondents—21 percent—worked for small family-owned companies, while 14 percent were employed at large family-owned organizations. The remaining 25 percent worked for privately held companies.