With a lot of discussion about the importance of focusing on managing stress at work, you might stop to wonder how happy workers in the UK are. In a study of over 9,900 working adults across Europe, management service company ADP explored the attitudes of employees towards the future of work.
The survey, carried out in July 2016 by research agency Opinion Matters, took a sample of working adults from eight key economies across Europe, including France,Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.
Where can we find the happiest employees?
Levels of job satisfaction vary significantly across Europe, according to the research. Dutch, Polish and Swiss employees are the most satisfied, whilst the UK comes joint fifth.
In the UK, satisfaction levels also differ greatly across regions; three quarters of those based in the East are satisfied (75%), whilst only 59% of employees in Northern Ireland are satisfied.
In the UK, those working in architecture, engineering and building are the most satisfied (84%), whilst IT & Telecoms workers fare well across Europe and the UK. In the UK, those working in financial services are the least satisfied (57%) – the lowest level of job satisfaction overall. In contrast, 71% of financial services employees in other European countries are satisfied.
Jeff Phipps, managing director at ADP UK, said: “It is positive to see that satisfaction levels are generally high across Europe, suggesting that most people are engaged in their work and feel fulfilled.
“However, even in higher scoring industries and countries there is no room for complacency. The very best businesses are focusing their efforts on the ‘whole person’ ensuring that their people feel valued, have a sense of purpose and that their well-being is supported.
“Employee satisfaction has long been acknowledged to have major implications for innovation, productivity and customer experience.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Do please advise me of my misconception as, unless I am completely off my med’s would I be so far off the mark to maybe suggest that the figures presented above pretty closely mirror performance, productivity & Wellbeing ?
Or would it be ‘counter intuitive’ to propose that, by and large, whether in Education or the Workplace UK’s human resources were running at around 60% effective in terms of butting-up against any glass-ceiling of performance and productivity ?
That is without presuming or assuming let alone making a fool of myself that the majority sort of answered correctly or should I say reasonably in line with their genuine feelings on the subject in question ?
I just cannot help but wonder whether an over-simplification to make a non-existent connection between a sense of Wellbeing or satisfaction and impact that may make on outcomes in terms of working to live or living to work?