Last year in the month of July, Assocham released a report which stated that 42% of Indian employees are suffering from depression. And now, a new report from Edenred-Ipsos Barometer has presented a completely opposite, rosy picture which states that 88% of Indian employees are happy and satisfied at work.
In fact, as per the report, Indians have beaten all other countries (which participated in the survey) when it comes to satisfaction and happiness at work.
The survey was conducted on 14,000 employees across 15 countries: Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States; and on an average, 7 out of 10 employees are happy in what they are doing at work.
If 88% of Indian employees felt complete ‘happiness’ at work, then in Mexico, 81% employees felt the same while in USA, Chile and Brazil, 71% employees said that they are happy and satisfied.
There were 10 questions pertaining to Environment at Work; Appreciation and Emotions; and surprisingly, India, Chile, Brazil and Mexico (all developing countries) scored highest in emotional well being and emotional happiness at work.
Why these results are a bad precedent for a country like India? We explore two possible reasons:
Indian Employees Have Less Expectations:
Happiness is a massively subjective matter as there exists no clear cut definition of the term – Is the guy who is homeless and surviving on Rs 50 per day more happy or the guy who is earning Rs 1.6 lakh per month but paying installments which consume 80% of his salary more happy?
When it comes to professional environment, then happiness can sometimes be a curse as it simply means that there exists less challenge and motivation to ‘break the barriers’ at work. Happiness can indicate that employers have less expectations from the employee; and employees love the status quo which simply means stagnation, less innovation and less growth.
No wonder 82% of employees intend to switch their jobs within 12 months despite the fact that employers in India overpay their employees and still don’t meet their expectations!
A very interesting data from the study by Edenred-Ipsos Barometer : Just 44% of Japanese employees are happy at work; and we all know how fiercely competitive Japan is when it comes to quality and commitment. Professionalism is compared with life vows there.
Does the result from the survey indicates that Indians are less hungry for success? Does it indirectly suggests us why there are fewer product companies in India, compared to service oriented companies as product means more failure, and when employees are happy, what is the need to experiment and possibly fail?
India Has Less Jobs
Educationalists in India were shocked when they discovered that for the post of a porter at Mumbai Railway station, (also called coolie in Hindi) 253 post graduates and 5 Doctorate holders (MPhil) had applied. A job for which minimum qualification was a 4th class pass, this was indeed a height of desperation.
No, we are not belittling the job of a porter, but at a time when we are talking about India beating China in economic growth, why such a condition arises when such highly qualified persons are applying for porter’s’ job?
Such instances are not rare: 9 lakh PhDs, engineers recently applied for a job of constable in Maharashtra; 34 PhDs and 12,000 engineers scrambled for a job in MP which required 4th class pass qualification; 23 lakh people (with 10% of PhD holders) applied for peon jobs in UP last year.
Will they be ever happy if they get their jobs?
One of the possible reasons why 88% of Indians are happy with their current jobs can be the fact that there are so less jobs in India right now that the participants of the survey found themselves lucky to be in a job in the first place!
If you are a salaried employee, and if you are happy with your job, then do share the secret behind your happiness by commenting right here.
yes. Unemployment may be reason, turns out to be happy when it comes to engaged somewhere irrespective of what he is doing and what he should do as per his qualification.
Age also is a factor. There is limit for getting employed first time, start earning for livelihood & taking care of family. So, it must be right.