Salary Survey: What Ails Japanese Engineers? |
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Posted By: Technology Staff Editor In: Information Technology
written by Bolaji Ojo, courtesy of EE Times
The struggle for relevance in a technology world that is rapidly shifting resources and manufacturing to China appears to be taking a heavy toll on Japanese engineers.
Or perhaps it's more correct to say that Japanese EEs, jaded by years of painful restructuring actions that have failed repeatedly to deliver the hoped-for results, suspect their employers lack the skills and the tools to restore the country's high-tech competitiveness.
Whatever the reasons for their malaise, it's clear Japanese engineers are less enthusiastic about the profession than their colleagues in China, Europe, India and North America. As a result, as a group they are far more willing today than in the past to forsake their employers for greener pastures, according to the 2009 EE Times Global Salary & Opinion Survey. About 20 percent of Japanese respondents to the survey indicated they would "like to change" employers "within a few years" or sooner.
Of course, old habits die hard: 76 percent of Japanese respondents still indicated an inclination to "work for my com- pany for many more years," the highest rate among all regional respondents.
Nonetheless, companies in the country once known for its cradle-to-grave employment mentality are starting to mimic their North American and European counterparts by laying off employees and accelerating the massive shift of manufacturing to China. In this environment, it's no surprise that the Japanese respondents to the EE Times survey trail their colleagues elsewhere on most metrics used to determine level of satisfaction with the profession.
Only 64 percent of Japanese respondents expressed satisfaction with their careers overall, compared with 85 percent for respondents in India and North America, 82 percent in Europe and 70 percent in China. The Japanese respondents also demonstrated less enthusiasm for both the engineering profession in general and their employers in particular, trailing their counterparts in North America, Europe, China and India in 10 of the 17 critical areas assessed by survey respondents.
Only 57 percent of the Japanese respondents believe their companies respect engineers, compared with 79 percent, 78 percent, 77 percent and 68 percent of respondents, respectively, in North America, India, Europe and China. Even more striking, only 33 percent of Japanese respondents believe their companies reward engineers for innovation, compared with 63 percent in North America and 62 percent in India.
Japanese engineers also appear to believe their employers are not doing enough to maintain a competitive edge. Only 53 percent of the Japanese respondents think their companies are mar- ket driven, as opposed to 85 percent in North America, 82 percent in Europe, 80 percent in India and 70 percent in China.
And when asked whether they believe the equipment they work with is current, only 47 percent of the Japanese engineers answered in the affirmative--the lowest regional score, by far, among the survey respondents.
With this outlook, it's not surprising that Japanese engineers are not too keen on recommending the profession to their children. A slim majority, 54 percent, said they would encourage their offspring to choose engineering, compared with 74 percent each of North American and Indian respondents, and 65 percent of European respondents.
Chinese engineers, however, had the lowest positive response rate for this question, with only 42 percent saying they would recommend the profession to the next generation.
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