How many of your employees love their jobs so much they claim they’d work for free?
Almost a quarter of Canadians love their job so much they’d work for free, with just 2% describing their position as a “necessary evil”.
Job satisfaction is an important aspect of engagement and discretionary effort, with most companies tracking overall satisfaction through regular employee surveys. Now a global survey shows the Canadian workforce is the most satisfied in the world.
The international survey from job site Monster and GfK, an independent global market research company, found Canadians beat out the rest of the world for satisfaction levels, while the U.S. workers were most likely to be dissatisfied.
When asked “Which of the following best describes how much you love your current job?” Canadian worker responses were:
- 24% Love it – would do it for free
- 40% Like it a lot – I enjoy what I do, but I could like it more
- 29% Like it – I like it well enough for now
- 5% Don’t like it – I think I could do better
- 2% Hate it – but it is a necessary evil
Young workers were least satisfied with 13% of under-25s saying they disliked their jobs.
“Young Canadians are ambitious and eager-to-succeed, so it’s not surprising that a significant proportion of them are feeling frustrated in their current jobs and think they can do better,” Monster.ca marketing director Sheryl Boswell said. “Smart employers mentor their younger workers, ensuring clear career growth paths, and they know how their performance will be measured and rewarded – this will help these younger workers stay engaged and improve retention.”
The further Canadians progress in their careers the more likely they are to align themselves with their career passions. The percentage of workers that said they liked their job a lot increased steadily with each age group questioned. Under a quarter (23%) of 18 – 24 year olds revealed that they enjoyed what they did for a living, but this figure rose to 45% in 50 – 64 year olds.
The worldwide study results show that Canadians were the most likely nation to say they either love their jobs or like them a lot. According to the survey the Netherlands were the next happiest nation at work with 57% saying they either love or like their employment, followed by India (55%), US (53%), UK (46%), France (43%) and Germany (34%).
US respondents were the most likely to say they dislike their jobs, with 15% saying they didn’t like, or hated their current role. This was followed by UK (12%), Germany (10%), France (9%), Canada and the Netherlands (both at 7%) and India (5%).