CEBUANO employees are the happiest and the most optimistic in the Philippines and Asia, according to the 2016 Job Happiness Index Report conducted by online job portal Jobstreet.
The average job satisfaction rating among surveyed Cebuano employees is 6.38 on a 10-point scale, higher than the country’s job happiness average of 6.25.
Cebuanos edged out employees from other labor-rich areas of Calabarzon (6.26), Metro Manila (6.14), and Negros Island Region at 6.09.
Seventy-six of every 100 Cebuano employees are happy with their job. The country’s job happiness index stood at 73.
Out of the seven Southeast Asian countries surveyed, Filipinos emerged as the happiest workers beating Indonesia (6.16), Thailand (5.74), Hong Kong (5.54), Vietnam (5.48), Malaysia (5.22), and Singapore (5.09).
“This is a welcome report especially that amid the change of leadership we have and the worsening traffic condition, we remain to be the happiest workers in Asia,” said Yolanda Buyco, regional marketing operations manager of Seek Asia.
Seek Asia is the holding company of two giant online job portal brands jobsDB and Jobstreet. Jobstreet Philippines has about 22,000 employer advertisers and more than 80,000 job listings. Central Visayas has over 8,000 employer advertisers.
Buyco cited the country’s good economic indicators, growth and abundance of job opportunities, and the optimism under the new government as some factors the made Filipinos the happiest workers in Asia.
This recent Job Happiness Index Report surveyed 12,796 Filipino employees from June to July this year. Of the surveyed workers, 518 respondents or four percent are from Cebu.
Cebuanos place a high premium on good relationships with colleagues, convenient work location, and conducive work schedule as top factors that cause job happiness, the survey showed.
Meanwhile poor salary, lack of benefits and an uninspiring management and leadership team are the top factors that make Cebuano workers unsatisfied with their jobs.
Asked what can increase their happiness at work, 31 percent of the Cebuano respondents identified salary increase as the top factor.
Fourteen percent would rather resign and look for better opportunities while eight percent said acquiring trainings and development opportunities would make them happier at work.
Drivers of job happiness and unhappiness also vary according to position level, the results of the survey showed.
Fresh graduates or those who recently joined a company in Cebu tend to be the happiest at 6.49 points, followed by supervisors, junior executives, and managers.
By industry, the happiest employees in Cebu are those working in government (7.57 points) followed by those employed in retail and banking and finance. On the other hand, workers employed in advertising/media, real estate and telco are the least happy. In terms of specialization, employees in sciences, building and construction and marketing are the happiest in Cebu, in contrast to education, arts and media, and accounting.
In terms of optimism in their careers in the next six months, the survey showed Cebuano employees emerged the most optimistic, registering a 6.32-point average versus the national average of 6.15 points and outpacing Metro Manila, Calabarzon and Negros Island.
According to Jobstreet, those who are only starting out or fresh graduates have the highest job optimism average at 6.71 points.
By industry, Cebuano employees in government, oil and gas and retail are the most optimistic. On the other hand, building and construction, administration, and marketing specialists have the most positive outlook regarding their careers in the next six months.
“The Job Happiness Index report is a helpful tool for employers to determine the sentiments of their employees, especially those that don’t have the capacity to put up a human resource department in their business or organization,” said Buyco.
Seek Asia covers seven countries namely Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Its database consist of over 500,000 corporate hirers and 24 million candidates.