Out of Control

Building on Sam's post about Salary.com's 2005/2006 Job Satisfaction and Retention Survey.

The top 3 reasons people want to stay at their current job caught my eye:

1. Friendly Co-workers
2. Good Managers
3. Desirable Commute

The first two reflect on the workplace. The desirable commute means they have found a way to live reasonably close, or a good job reasonably close to home. I think the survey implies the latter, because if they were willing to move where they live, a desirable commute would be less important. They could always move to a place with a desirable commute to the new job. I'd guess most people have found a place they like to live, and/or lack confidence they can find as desirable a place near a new job.

To me this is all the more reason to fight against the complacency about congestion that afflicts most metro planning organizations. Less congestion means people can reach more jobs from a given home, and thus are more likely to find themselves with those top 3 reasons to stay put.