Lowly paid Filipinos happiest with their jobs

JobStreet Philippines marketing director Yoda Buyco said the survey showed that a majority (55 per cent) of Filipino employees were “quite happy” with their jobs while another 15 per cent were “very happy,” pushing the Philippines to the top of the satisfaction survey.

Thai employees ranked second with 59 per cent saying they were happy at work, followed by Singapore with a 51-per cent satisfaction rate.

Employees in Hong Kong and Indonesia were the least satisfied with their jobs, with small minorities indicating they were happy with their work.
Only 37 per cent of employees in the Chinese territory expressed satisfaction while in Indonesia only 28 per cent said they were satisfied.

A similar survey was conducted in Malaysia but the results have not been released, Buyco said.

Drivers of satisfaction

She said Filipino employees ranked “salary, company benefits and incentives” as the most important drivers of their satisfaction (64 per cent).

Employees in Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong cited “relationship with colleagues and superiors” as the main reason for their satisfaction.

“Job role” ranked highest among Indonesian workers, who said “relationship” was their second-most important driver.

“Filipinos’ strong family ties may be the reason they cited a different factor for their satisfaction,” Buyco said. “We primarily work for our families and our compensation helps us help our families.”

“We [Filipinos] may have a lower salary grade compared to our counterparts in other countries… but we have a relatively lower cost of living. We may have very little but we enjoy the most out of the little we have,” she added.

“Job role” was second (62 per cent) for Filipino workers, followed by “learning and development programs leading to career growth” (60 per cent).
“Working environment, culture and reputation” (59 per cent) and “relationship with colleagues and superior” (56 per cent) rounded out the five top drivers of Filipinos’ satisfaction, Buyco said.

The Philippine part of the survey covered more than 7,500 participants from across the country and was conducted in June and July.