Mumbai: Jobs dissatisfaction among Indian employees is growing as ‘Job Satisfaction 2016’ survey by TimesJobs.com reveals that 60% employees are not satisfied with their current job and 80% of the participating employees stated that they are looking to switch jobs. Compared to the ‘Job Satisfaction 2015’ survey results there has been a noticeable rise in the level of dissatisfaction. In the 2015 study, 78% employees stated they were happy with their current job, although they were still open to other opportunities.
This drop in satisfaction is a sharp contradiction to the claims and promises of India Inc. employers, who said they have rolled out improved benefits and rewards for the workforce in a bid to retain employees and make their workplaces happier and more fulfilling.
More surprisingly, unhappiness among junior employees and freshers is at the highest levels. Of the 60% unsatisfied employees, 80% belong to the junior level, 60% are from the middle level and 40% respondents are from the senior level profiles.
On gender wise, male employees are more discontent compared to their female counterparts. About 70% male respondents said that they were unsatisfied with their jobs while the rest 30% claimed to be happy with their present jobs. For women employees, this ratio is 50:50. About 50% women respondents said they were satisfied with their job and an equal number of women respondents claimed to be unsatisfied with their current jobs.
Reasons for rise in discontent among employees: Among the respondents who claimed to be unsatisfied, 50% count poor work-life balance, 30% state meaningless work and 20% say poor salary as the reason for this dissatisfaction.
Of the respondents who claimed to be satisfied, 45% state their work-life balance as the major reason for their job satisfaction. 35% attribute a good salary and 20% say a good work profile is the reason for their contentment.
“The paradigm of job satisfaction has moved from salary optimization to career optimization with a healthy work life balance. Unfortunately, a lot of India Inc. is still concentrating on salary optimization to increase employee satisfaction. Although a lot of discussions have happened on taking care of holistic career aspirations of employees it is high time definite steps are taken to arrest this dissatisfaction.” says Nilanjan Roy, Head of Strategy, Times Business Solutions. “At the same time Jobseekers need to increasingly do their own research through company reviews and ratings on company rating platforms to ensure they make the right choice,” he adds.
For employees, the key elements of job satisfaction include these factors, in order of their preference:
Work-life balance
Challenging work
Job security
Salary
Reward & recognition
Company success
Job dissatisfaction has always been a concern for the India Inc. but the situation is becoming grave now because top talent is scarce and competition among employers is also ratcheting up. A closer analysis of any workplace will tell you that apart from good salary and good position, employees also vie for softer aspects of the work, such as company culture, values, career growth, job security and work-life balance. Of late, these aspects have become critical differentiators for employees.
