Workers in different countries favor certain job elements
Happy employees are more productive, and meaningful work has the biggest influence on job satisfaction, according to new research that also found the happiest employees — ones who describe themselves as being elated with their job — report to offices with above-average diversity.
Tech provider Wrike’s survey, which involved employees in the U.S., U.K., France and Germany, found a strong connection between job satisfaction and productivity. Ninety-one percent of elated workers say they’re very productive.
Job satisfaction is so important to some employees that they’re open to taking a lower paying job for happiness reasons. In general, four in 10 survey respondents said they’ve taken a pay cut for a position that made them more content.
More than half (58 percent) of U.S. workers and 54 percent in the U.K. have accepted a job that made them happier and involved a pay cut. Only 32 percent of French respondents, though, and 29 percent of German workers said they’ve taken a pay cut for what they considered to be a more pleasing job.
Employee preferences for specific workplace elements tend to differ regionally. When asked to rate six key factors that influence job satisfaction, U.K. workers, for instance, identified office location as the second most significant aspect that would affect how happy they were at work. Employees in the U.S., however, ranked location last.
To learn more about the notable components happy employees value, view this information about the Wrike’s recently released workplace happiness report.