Lowly paid Filipinos happiest with their jobs

Despite having one of the lowest salary grades in the region, Filipinos are the happiest with their jobs, a survey conducted among working individuals in Southeast Asia showed.

Seventy percent of Filipino employees said they were happy with their work, according to the study released by the job search website JobStreet Philippines on Wednesday.

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

Thai employees ranked second with 59 percent saying they were happy at work, followed by Singapore with a 51-percent 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 percent of employees in the Chinese territory expressed satisfaction while in Indonesia only 28 percent 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 percent).

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 percent) for Filipino workers, followed by “learning and development programs leading to career growth” (60 percent).

“Working environment, culture and reputation” (59 percent) and “relationship with colleagues and superior” (56 percent) rounded out the five top drivers of Filipinos’ satisfaction, Buyco said.

The Philippine part of the survey involved over 7,500 participants from across the country and was conducted last June and July.