Job Happiness Index 2017: 45% of Singaporeans are unhappy at work

• Key unhappiness factors: Issues with management, lack of career development and training opportunities
• Convenient work locations, good relationship with colleagues and reputable companies are the top happiness drivers
• Happier employees are found in larger companies

SINGAPORE, 22 January 2018 - Work ruts and issues with management are the key factors of unhappiness at work. According to JobStreet.com's Job Happiness Index 2017, the top three job unhappiness factors among Singaporean employees are issues with the management and leadership team, a lack of opportunities for career development and training opportunities.

"When their career trajectories stagnate, employees do not derive any form of satisfaction and may begin to resent their jobs. To retain outstanding performers, there is a need to give them new challenges and more high-level responsibilities so that they can grow their skillsets," says Ms Chew Siew Mee, Country Manager, JobStreet.com Singapore.

The structure of today's organization is quite flat where employees tend to stay on the same position for a longer period. Therefore, employers can consider expanding the employees' responsibilities or move them across different functions to upgrade and build multi-functional skills. This will help to improve the employees' work happiness and productivity level.

Implementing office perks to increase happiness at work

From the same happiness index survey, JobStreet.com found that out of 100 Singaporean employees, 55 of them are either neutral about or happy at work. Work location is identified as the most important factor impacting job happiness — the other two being good colleagues and company reputation. Other than transport subsidies, workplace flexibility, salary increment and additional job perks will boost Singaporeans' happiness levels at work.

"Singapore has an extensive network of public transport, which makes commuting easy for employees," says Ms Chew. "Our survey found that 47.22% of the respondents are happy because of the ease of commute. However, the long travel time from home to workplace has led to unhappiness in 26.32% of the respondents. For employers planning their talent retention strategies, reviewing their policies on transport subsidies could help boost workplace morale."

Also, employees working in larger companies are found generally happier. Larger companies operate in a more defined organizational structure with various departments, which provide employees the option to explore other job scopes without leaving the company. Larger companies also have the resources to enroll their employees in training or accreditation courses, which ensure long-term professional development.

Flexibility the key to millennials' happiness at work

Another interesting finding is that millennials (36%) are generally happier than non-millennials (30%). While both groups value convenient access to work location, millennials care most about flexibility. As such, employers can look into offering incentives such flexi work schedule and work-from-home policies to attract high-calibre millennials.

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About JobStreet.com

JobStreet.com is one of Asia's leading online employment marketplaces that helps to facilitate the matching and communication of job opportunities between jobseekers and employers in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam. JobStreet.com currently services over 230,000 corporate hirers and over 15 million jobseekers in its database.

For more information, please visit www.jobstreet.com.

About SEEK Asia

JobStreet.com and jobsDB are part of SEEK Asia, which is the leading online employment market place in Asia. SEEK Asia covers 7 countries namely Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

SEEK Asia is the extension of the Australian Securities Exchange listed company called SEEK. The company's purpose is to help improve people's lives through a better career. SEEK Asia's database consist of over 500,000 corporate hirers and over 24 million candidates.

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