Salary and relationships with colleagues are the primary drivers of workplace happiness in Southeast Asia, according to the results of a survey conducted by a consumer research and analytics firm.
Milieu Insight said Tuesday the two factors topped the survey with 42 percent of the respondents across the region saying that these are aspects of their job that make them happy.
“It was fascinating to see that ‘relationships at work’ ranked so high as a driver of happiness, and that it ranked as high as their salary. As we approach two years of living with the effects of Covid-19, it would seem that employees are beginning to desire stronger connections with their colleagues, even if those connections have to be nurtured remotely,” Milieu Chief Operating Officer Stephen Tracy said in a statement.
Tracy said businesses should put an effort in “cultivating strong employee relationship” and “succeeding with this requires more than a subscription to collaboration tools like Zoom or Teams.” Amid the pandemic, businesses had to shift to online video-conferencing platforms for engagement and meetings due to mobility restrictions.
Apart from salary and relationships with colleagues, their current work arrangement, such as having a flexible work schedule, also make 35 percent of employees happy.
“Notably, current work arrangements also ranked first as the leading cause of unhappiness,” the report read. “The latter highlights that not all companies have succeeded in adapting their work arrangements to a post-Covid world or that some employees are less open to work-from-home arrangements.”
Other aspects of their job that bring happiness to Southeast Asian professionals are growth opportunities (34 percent), company benefits (32 percent), purpose (32 percent), workload (27 percent), relationship with customers or clients (27 percent), appreciation from the company (25 percent), and company culture (22 percent).
In the region, the Philippines was among the countries that was “more likely to be happier today than a year ago,” with 42 percent of respondents affirming this statement. Meanwhile, 23 percent said they were less happy than a year ago and 35 percent said nothing changed.
Thailand was “more likely to be less happy at work than a year ago.”
Overall, 35 percent in the region said they were happier, 26 percent said they were less happy and 39 percent said things were the same.
In addition, the majority or 80 percent of the working professionals in the region said they feel a sense of belongingness in their organization while 78 percent agreed that their companies “give them what they need to do their job effectively.”
Milieu surveyed over 6,800 working professionals from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam for the study.
