Monster-GfK Survey Compares International Attitudes Toward Work

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opened manilla folder A joint survey carried out by Monster, Inc. and independent global market research firm GfK has revealed a gap in attitudes toward work in seven large economies: Canada, France, Germany, India, Netherlands, the U.K., and the U.S. The study found that U.S. workers are in the middle of the rankings, which were topped by Canadian workers who displayed the highest level of contentment of all surveyed countries. Key findings from the report include:

• 64 percent of Canadian workers are content with their jobs.

• 11 percent of Brits reported that they would work their jobs for free out of love for their roles.

• 48 percent of French workers enjoy their jobs “well enough for now” while 9 percent either don’t like or hate their current role.

• 55 percent of Indian workers like or love their jobs.

• 3 percent of Dutch workers hate their jobs while accepting it as a necessary evil.

• 22 percent of American workers love their jobs so much that they would do them for free while 15 percent dislike their jobs, the highest of all surveyed countries.

• 54 percent of German workers like their jobs “well enough for now” with just 5 percent reporting that they love their jobs.

“What is striking about the findings is that the strength of a country’s labor market doesn’t necessarily correlate with workforce contentment. While workers in challenged markets may have had fewer opportunities to advance in terms of promotions or salary during the recent downturn, it has not necessarily affected their happiness, “said Chris Moessner, Vice President for Public Affairs, GfK. “Clearly there are many variables when it comes to job satisfaction – for example, Canada and Germany have enjoyed buoyant labor markets, yet they lie at completely different ends of the happiness spectrum some of which could be driven by broader cultural differences between the two countries. More generally though, workers internationally want more out of their work and seem to have just settled for their current jobs.”

 

By Joshua Bjerke