Salary not the biggest driver of job satisfaction for Singapore workers: Survey

SINGAPORE - Salary is not the biggest driver of satisfaction among Singapore employees, according to a study by data collection platform Qualtrics with more than 500 participants from Singapore.

These results are part of a larger survey on more than 6,000 participants globally, including countries like Australia and the United States.

The survey was done in a multiple-choice format with a five-point scale for participants to choose from, ranging from "always" to "never" or "extremely satisfied" to "extremely dissatisfied".

The report released on Wednesday (Jan 16) sought to provide details of the daily experience of Singapore's working population, and how key engagement metrics like work-life balance, job satisfaction, motivation at work, attrition and retention vary across the working population.

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The findings suggested that the main drivers for job satisfaction locally were confidence in the company's senior leadership team, and a helpful manager in resolving work-related issues.

A unique factor for workers in Singapore, in comparison to the other countries, was that receiving sufficient training to perform their job effectively was also a key factor behind enhanced job satisfaction, as well as increased desire to go to work and higher staff retention rates.

This suggests that employees appreciate it when employers invest in them, said the report.

The findings also showed that while Singapore workers had the lowest levels of job satisfaction compared to the other countries, they had the lowest levels of work-related stress.

Just under half of those surveyed were satisfied with their current job, below the global average of 62 per cent employee job satisfaction.

When it came to stress, 22 per cent said they felt stressed or overwhelmed "always" or "most of the time". Australia, the US and the United Kingdom were found to be the most stressed at 29 per cent.

Work-life balance was found to be linked to job loyalty.

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Workers who were happy with their work-life balance, as well as those who said their companies were extremely supportive of a work-life balance, were more likely to indicate that they would stay in their jobs.

Singapore workers may be seeing an improvement to their work-life balances in the future.

More employers are offering formal flexible work arrangements, according to the latest Conditions of Employment Report released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Wednesday.

Last year, 72 per cent of employees worked in companies that offer at least one such arrangement, such as part-time work, flexible hours or tele-working, up from 70 per cent in 2017.

Flexibility in working arrangements had the greatest impact in staff retention, said the MOM report, corroborating the findings of the Qualtrics report.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.