Lifestyle Report: Job Satisfaction

Despite long hours, red tape and cleaning the loos, there are still many reasons to enjoy the pub trade.

It's not just about the money and, some would say, it's just as well! Overall, the vast majority of licensees (73 per cent) say they enjoy their work a lot, with another 17 per cent saying they enjoy it a little. Only four per cent say they don't like the job. There is much to enjoy as a licensee, despite all the red tape, long hours, security worries and having to clean the toilet on a Saturday night.

Publicans in the prime of life (those aged 35 to 44) love the job the most, with almost 80 per cent saying they enjoy it a lot.

And when it comes to the issues licensees regard as important to their job satisfaction, money ranked well down the list, with less than half (47 per cent) regarding it as very important, although an additional 39 per cent saw it as quite important and only four per cent regarded it as unimportant.

A general sense of job satisfaction is the most important thing to licensees. This may sound obvious but many workers find a way to deal with low job satisfaction if the pay's good enough.

More than seven in 10 felt it was very important and another 20 per cent quite important. Less than five per cent didn't think job satisfaction was at all important.

One of the strongest reasons for going into the licensed trade is the chance to be one's own boss, in one form or another, and to have a high degree of control over the business. Almost two-thirds (65 per cent) see self-employment as very important, with a further 20 per cent ticking the box marked "quite important".

Naturally enough, the figures among freetraders were slightly higher than those for tenants and lessees.

Hand-in-hand with being the boss is having control over the business. A similar number (64 per cent) cite this as very important, with a further 24 per cent finding it quite important.

Oddly enough, control was slightly less important to freetraders and lessees, perhaps because they take it for granted, than to tenants, many of whom would love to have more control of the business than they do.

The social aspects of the job scored rather lower.

Nevertheless, more than half the survey marked them as very important.

A further 36 per cent scored sociability as quite important, with only a miserable few listing it as unimportant.

The weight of responsibility lies heavy on licensees' shoulders, but it's a part of the job that contributes significantly to overall satisfaction, with 51 per cent regarding it as very important and a further 33 per cent as quite important.

The licensee lifestyle - the subject of this entire Coors-sponsored report - is one of the profession's strongest attractions. Living above the shop, the absence of a nine-to-five routine, being your own boss, enjoying the company of customers in a pub atmosphere you've helped to create all go towards making the job what it is.

A large majority reported that lifestyle was either very important to them (44 per cent) or quite important (32 per cent).

Of all the factors that contribute to a publican's sense of well-being, the least important on our list was professional status. Only 31 per cent scored this as very important, with 30 per cent viewing it as quite important.

That's still a good majority who get a kick from the status of being a licensee but, as a profession, licensees aren't too hung up on this issue, and with such a mix of customers it wouldn't do to harp on about it if they were.

Freeholders were less concerned about status than their lessee and tenant counterparts.