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Coping with the Changing Realities of Work and Life: Receive A Copy Of This Report Contact Us
Summary Results of the Survey Who participated in the 2002 Survey Were there changes from 2000 to 2002 for women? Did Men and women respond similarly?	The Lingering Impact of 9/11 Making sense of the findings Implications: Creating a better workplace Concluding thoughts References and Authors' Note

Results of the Survey

The dotcom boom, its crash, the overall decline in the economy and the events of September 11, 2001 are having a significant impact on the experiences of men and women in new economy companies. The present quantitative survey by GLS Consulting and WorldWit (World Women in Technology and new economy companies) extends an earlier qualitative study of 265 women conducted in 1999-2000, in which women working in the dotcom boom described the important upsides and downsides of their jobs. The survey questions created in 2002 were based directly on responses to the open-ended questions that people answered in 2000. We made the 2002 survey quantitative rather than qualitative so that future trends could be tracked; the questions asked respondents to estimate the degree to which they experienced a variety of workplace characteristics and personal reactions. In designing the 2002 study we were interested in determining whether people’s views had changed after the economic downturn and the catastrophic events of September 11, 2001. We also wanted to learn whether the experiences of men and women were different, and therefore asked a comparable sample of men to respond to the 2002 survey. A total of 561 women and 165 men completed the survey in the first quarter of 2002.

The survey asked people about their current job characteristics, and which of these characteristics are valuable to them. Respondents also identified the degree to which particular workplace characteristics create difficulty or distress, and to what degree these difficulties have had an impact on different aspects of their lives. They reported the strategies they use for coping with stress, what has kept them in their current jobs, and what has tempted them to look elsewhere. Respondents indicated whether their companies have experienced downsizing since 9/11, and how 9/11 and the events that have followed have affected various aspects of their work and family/personal lives.

The results of the study are presented below. We begin by comparing the results for women in the 2000 and 2002 studies. Second, we present results for men and women, and examine similarities and differences in the way they responded. Third, we explore the impact of the events of 9-11 for all respondents. Finally, we present a broader analysis of the results, and discuss possible implications for organizations and the men and women who work in them.

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