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Summary: Most of the survey respondents were unhappy.
Key Take Aways:
- The main sources of unhappiness were not liking the work and poor relationships with bosses.
- Money was not the main factor in their unhappiness.
A Jobstreet.com survey of 1,145 Malaysian workers found 78% of them reported being unhappy with their work. One might assume this high rate of dissatisfaction would be tied to salary level, but only 17% of those surveyed said money was the key to their work unhappiness. (Job Street is an online recruiting company working in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam.)
Instead they cited the kind of work they are doing and their relationship with their boss as the main sources of unhappiness. For the 22% who reported being happy with their jobs, money again, was not what they cited as the main factor in their contentedness. About half said they enjoyed their work, and a little over twenty percent said they had good relationships with their bosses.
Nineteen percent said it was good relationships with co-workers that was tied to their work happiness. (Incidentally, connectedness at work is one of the key aspects of a happy worklife, and was identified as such by Tony Hsieh in his book, Delivering Happiness.)
Recent research studies have indicated happier workers are more productive, so if it is true there are so many dissatisfied workers in Malaysia, this situation would need to be examined carefully to develop a more productive work culture. This is not to blame anyone or try to find fault with one country, because there are similar trends around the world. In point of fact, it might actually be a global problem due to an overemphasis on economic measurement and not enough on human happiness.
For example, in the United States the number of disengaged or discontented workers could also be very high. A recent analysis found potentially $350 billion dollars a year is lost due to decreased productivity associated with unhappy workers.
It must also be said that a survey of 1,145 workers might not be entirely representative of all employees within a nation of 28,000,000. Survey validity and what makes a survey generalizable to a very large population is always open to some debate.
Image Credit: mailer_diablo
