Why Filipinos Are Unhappy with Their Workplace

Local Literature According to CNN Philippines, a company´s style of management is a leading cause of unhappiness among Filipino employees. CNN Philippines also said that the online employment portal Jobstreet presented its 2017 Happiness Index report last October 25, 2017, saying that the lack of career development and training opportunities are the top reasons why Filipinos are unhappy with their workplace. And on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being extremely unhappy and 10 extremely happy, Filipinos averaged 4.97 this year, a slight drop from 2016's 5.25 score. Jobstreet.com country manager Philip Gioca said, "This is a good wake-up call to them (employers) that the situation is not getting better, in fact it is getting worse."

Jobstreet surveyed more 9,326 respondents over one month period from July 31 to August 31 in the year of 2017. Respondents were asked what will make them happier in the next six months and 33% said a salary increase will make them happier, while 23% wished to resign or get a new job. Relationships with co-worker is the top reason of their happiness. According to Gioca, the factors that drive job happiness or unhappiness among Filipino workers differed depending on age and career stage. Gioca also explained, "We have to understand that the workplace is composed of different generations. It would be best if managers can get to the heart of why this is happening as each company's DNA is unique." With regard to the position level, the top executives have the happiest happiness score, followed by the fresh graduates, according to CNN. The baby boomers like work because of the schedule, while the younger ones consider work relationships and work location as important. Meanwhile, a lack of career development and training opportunities made older employees dissatisfied. The millennials are also discouraged by the same factors, and by poor pay.

Gioca also said, "One of the key takeaway should be management should be able to address a communication line between their employees." And with the drop in job satisfaction among Filipinos, the Philippines slides down to 3rd from 1st in 2016, compared with six other Asian countries. The job satisfaction is highest in Indonesia (5.27), followed by Vietnam (5.19), the Philippines (4.97), Malaysia (4.65), Thailand (4.55), Hong Kong (4.45) and Singapore (4.31). According to Jobstreet.com Philippines´ Job Satisfaction Report, 70% of Filipino employees are happy with their jobs, which leaves only 30% who consider themselves unhappy. Is it only because among of those were pleased with their employment status, as 15% of employees consider themselves as "very happy" and 55% as "quite happy" while the 25% consider themselves "quite unhappy and the remaining 5% "very unhappy with their jobs. The report also reveals that the level of happiness among employees decreases as they climb the corporate ladder. Fresh graduates are happiest at 79%, followed by junior executives (70%), supervisors (67%), and directors up (68%), while managers scored the lowest percentage of happy employees at 66%.

The levels of satisfaction also see a marked decrease as employees stay longer in their jobs. Those who have stayed in their companies for less than a year are most satisfied at 75%, followed by those who have stayed from one to three years at 72 %, while only 65% of those with longer period of tenure at three to five years are happy and only 62% of those who have stayed with the company for more than five years consider themselves happy. When they asked about why are those employees are satisfied with their jobs, 64% of respondents claim to be happy with salary, company benefits & incentives they are provided with, while job role is second at 62%, and career growth and the company’s learning & development programs come in third at 60%. It was also written in the report that the various drivers of job satisfaction differ in popularity according to position levels. Maybe because among fresh graduates, the primary reason for job satisfaction is salary, company benefits & incentives. Junior executives and supervisors claim pleasant relationships with colleagues and bosses as their primary driver of job satisfaction, while managers and directors up prioritize satisfaction with their job roles.

On the other hand, employees who changed jobs in the past three years say they left because they were dissatisfied with the salaries, benefits & incentives provided to them. Only directors up expressed dissatisfaction with their company’s working environment, culture & reputation as the primary reason they changed jobs. It was also found that 90% of those who changed jobs think they made the right decision and 59% became happier. 50% of junior executives have plans of switching positions in the next 12 months, followed by managers at 48%, and supervisors and directors at 47% and 44% prospectively. Only 40% of fresh graduates are looking forward to a new job within a year, as 33% claim that they are still undecided about the path or career they are going in. According to Manila Bulletin, Filipinos are generally known for having positive, optimistic attitudes in life, reflected in their sunshine disposition. And based on the research conducted in the last year of 2017, 78% of the the respondents answered either very good or somewhat good when asked to rate the Philippine´s current economic situation.

Based also on the Manila Bulletin, as of today, especially the millennials who are working don´t stay long in one job but move from job to job. Those millennials are distracted and not focused on what they are doing because there are so many sources of distraction and entertainment that are open to them. Therefore, the goal of the human resources department is to attract, retain, motivate and improve the experience of today´s generation.