Is the Water Cooler Half-Full or Half-Empty?

TheLadders.com Survey of $100k Job Seekers Finds Recession Threat, Writerís Strike and Election Results Provoking Polarized Views.

With the presidential election locked in a dead heat, the threat of recession looming and the writerís strike finally over, there is no shortage of water cooler conversation fodder in corporate America. According to a new survey of executives conducted by TheLadders.com, the worldís leading online marketplace for $100k jobs, many of those conversations are destined to turn into debates this year. When it comes to the big issues for 2008, executives are split into two diametrically opposed camps.

Recession Blues?
Although 2008 volatility charts look like an electrocardiogram during a heart attack and talk of possible recession is in every financial news story in the country, not all executives at American corporations agree that weíre headed for disaster. When asked if they believed the financial markets would turn around this year, 56.5 percent of executives said, yes, citing underlying strength in the economy. Meanwhile, 43.5 percent of their peers said they felt the market could not recover this year because there are too many factors working against it.

As for the impacts of a recession on their careers, executives were split there too. While 59.7 percent voiced concern, saying that when the economy slows, so does their income growth, 40.3 percent said they are ìrecession proof.î Even when it comes to home values ñ a part of the economy that most economists agree is declining ñ only 48.2 percent of executives surveyed said they thought their homes would be worth less money at the end of 2008. Thirty seven percent said their houses would be worth more at the end of the year.

Tracking the Campaign Trail
Politics is always a reliable source of workplace dichotomy, but the presidential race of 2008 has already shown the potential to spark heated debate among otherwise friendly forces. Of the three front-runners in the race, 31.3 percent of executives surveyed believe John McCain will win the 2008 presidential election; 28.5 percent think that Barack Obama will win; and 25.8 percent think Hillary Clinton will return to the White House.

Crossing the Line
The recently ended Writerís Guild Strike has also raised a host of contentious issues among corporate managers who are acutely aware of the constant struggle between talent and business objectives. When asked whether they felt the writersí strike was good or bad for organized labor, 50.9 percent of those surveyed said it was good because it demonstrated that talented workers cannot be taken advantage of, while 49.1 percent said it was bad because it shines a light on everything thatís wrong with unions. When pushed further on the subject, 51 percent said unions are essential to maintaining workersí rights and 49 percent said they are a relic of the past.

ìExecutives across the nation are being hit with all sorts of mixed messages this year,î said Marc Cenedella, CEO and founder of TheLadders.com. ìThe election, the markets, daily news about workersí rights ñ these issues can be spun into a good-news story or a bad-news story depending on how they are interpreted. But these kinds of transition years also create amazing business opportunities for those who are savvy enough to see through the surface layer of hype and get to the heart of new trends and ideas. Itís very important at times like this for executives to keep their eyes on the ball.î

TheLadders.com survey was conducted in January 2008 and included 508 executives. The results of this survey are statistically accurate to within 4.33 percentage points.