work

A recent survey of working conditions in the world’s largest economies reveals some interesting insights, as well as some that might not be so shocking to anyone who’s worked in said country. Read on for the full ranking.

No matter how high the Customer Satisfaction (CS) rating of a company, if the employees there are working under unsatisfactory conditions, you can’t exactly call it a good company, right?

The words “employee satisfaction” (ES) and “work-life-balance” and have been cropping up lately in relation to CS. But how many companies are actually striving to make sure their employees are satisfied?

The survey results have been compiled by the British-based Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD), who investigated working environments in each of the G8 and BRICS countries. The G8 group consists of France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Japan, America, Canada and Russia; BRICS includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa; this brings the total number of countries looked at to 12.

Here we have the G8 & BRICS Employee Satisfaction Rankings.

1. Canada (G8) – 91%

2. United Kingdom (G8) – 91%

3. Germany (G8) – 86%

3. Italy (G8) – 86%

3. America (G8) – 86%

3. Brazil (BRICS) -86%

7. South Africa (BRICS) – 81%

7. Japan (G8) – 81%

7. France (G8) – 81%

10. China (BRICS) -73%

11. Russia (G8/BRICS) – 60%

12. India (BRICS) – 39%

※The percentages indicate level of satisfaction

Any surprises there? Let’s take a look at Japan.

Japanese employee satisfaction in the workplace apparently stands at 81 percent. That doesn’t seem so bad, but then consider that it places Japan in 7th place out of 12 countries, and second worst out of the G8 countries.

Levels of employee satisfaction are closely connected to salary and balance between work and private life. Now, I’m not meaning to point any fingers here, but could Japan’s low rating be connected to its reputation for overworking its employees?! I mean, there must be a reason Japan has a word (karōshi) to mean death from overwork. Just sayin’…

Other interesting conclusions drawn from the survey include:

  • Japan has the highest proportion of the elderly in the workforce
  • Around 20 percent of American companies let employees bring their pet to work
  • The average French lunch break lasts just 22 minutes
  • 46 percent of Russia’s senior executives are female – in Japan its just 5 percent

How do you guys feel about the list? Is your country represented? If so, how do you feel about its rating?

Source: Business Owners Direct, CIPD (PDF file)
Photo: RocketNews24
[ Read in Japanese ]