“So, how do you like your job?”

The Gallup-Healthways organization has been asking that question to 1,000 American adults everyday since January, 2008. The response?

Americans now feel worse about their jobs — and work environments — than ever before. People of all ages, and across income levels, are unhappy with their supervisors, apathetic about their organizations and detached from what they do. And there’s no reason to think things will soon improve.

Hmmm… not good. As working adults, we spend more of our waking hours at the office than anyplace else. Studies show that our well-being and productivity hinge on our happiness at work. Along with our current economic doldrums, we’ve hit a low point in worker satisfaction.

The study also finds that the leading cause of this dissatisfaction among workers is the sense that their individual contributions don’t matter to their company’s ultimate success or failure. Interestingly, when Gallup asked workers what determined their happiness, a “sense of purpose” far outweighed financial incentives and other factors. Past the paycheck, millions of workers are asking themselves, “Am I really making a difference at my company?”

That’s a nearly impossible question to answer when you are one of many thousands of employees at a big company. Individual contributions are lost in layers of middle management and heavily sanitized financial reporting. But, at a startup, the question, “Am I making a difference at my company?”, is not only easy to answer, the answer is typically a resounding “YES”.

There’s a well-founded sense among startup employees that their individual contributions do matter. In nearly every role, at nearly every stage of development, startups are filled with employees who appreciate and champion the link between their efforts today and the impact they have on the company tomorrow.

These days startups are hiring talent, especially in technology and design, to accelerate their progress. This is especially true here in Boston. Many of the most talented and promising candidates come from large technology companies along route 128 and our universities.

Boston startups are offering technology and design talent high salaries, excellent perks, passionate coworkers, and, most importantly, a bright and shining sense of purpose. So why don’t more technology and design professionals along Route 128 and students consider startups as viable next steps in their careers?

Many perceive startups as high risk and low compensation. Yet this is not universally true. In fact, mid-to-late stage startups offer salaries comparable with those from much larger employers. And while early stage startups do pay less, they also offer significant equity. Venture-backed equity is often a worthwhile trade-off for even the highest paid technologist or designer.

Meanwhile big companies aren’t the bastions of job security they once were. Last year the Fortune 500 shed 80,000 jobs, while the Inc. 500 created over 300,000. At a time when major corporations are laying off workers, startups are hiring.

Also startups aren’t as visible as big companies, who send legions of recruiters to university campuses and leverage their well-known brands. I believe this is the real reason why more employees at big Boston area companies and students don’t consider startups.

Perhaps large company employees and university students have seen “The Social Network” or read a profile of a startup found by Scott Kirsner in the Boston Globe. But that’s really not enough to know the advantages of working at a startup – the team, the culture, the perks, the purpose.

At workse.ee, we’re delivering a new way for big company employees and university students to see what it’s really like to work at a startup. We’ll be premiering a series on featured startups soon and (shameless plug) hope that you’ll join us by subscribing here.

All of us in the Boston area startup community have an interest in growing our community with more talent. Let’s turn down the poaching and enlarge the pie by reaching out to large companies employees and students.