Gender and Ethnicity Differences in Perceptions of the Work Environment among US Public Protective Service Investigators.

Plagued by very high turnover among skilled and experienced workers, child welfare employers at the state and local level in the United States of America (US) have attempted to determine if the organizational environment contributes to job stress and turnover. A number of research endeavors have been conducted to understand individual and situational job related stress and its relationship to intention to leave the organization. There has, however, been a little research on differences in perception of work environment by gender and ethnicity among human service employees. This study investigated the gender and race differences among protective service employees' work environment in one southwestern state of the US. Two-Way ANOVA testing found that Non-White female workers were less likely than White female employees to report that they received appropriate job benefits. More specifically, African American and Hispanic female workers were less likely than White female employees to report job benefits as satisfactory while Hispanic male workers were more likely than White male workers to report that their available job benefits were satisfactory. Findings indicate major differences in how female and ethnic minority workers perceive their work environments. Recommendations for managers and organizational development professionals are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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