MALAYSIANS spend more time at work than at home, and yet, they are happy. Why?

A JobStreet.com survey has found that Malaysia ranks fourth out of seven countries in the region, in terms of having employees who are happy at the workplace.

Its country manager, Chook Yuh Yng, said Malaysia scored 4.65 on a 10-point scale.

“Of the 10,143 Malaysian employees surveyed, 58% reported that they are happy with their jobs.

“We have made improvements from last year. We see this as a positive trend, but still, there is room for improvement,” she told reporters at the Media Coffee Talk: Job Happiness Index 2017 event in Kuala Lumpur today.

Chook said the survey found that a convenient work location, good relationship with colleagues and company reputation were the top three factors affecting job happiness.

She said Malaysian employees’ top considerations to boost job happiness included getting a salary increase and recognition from the company.

In contrast, she said, poor leadership, and a lack of career development and training opportunities were flagged by respondents as the top three factors contributing to job unhappiness.

“To instil a greater sense of confidence in the leadership of a company, employers should practise transparency in communication, and at the same time, schedule regular skills upgrading programmes to engage and retain top talent.”

The survey results showed that Malaysian employees in the civil service, and food and beverage and medical industries were the happiest.

Based on a breakdown by specialisation, the happiest employees were those in sales (telesales/telemarketing), engineering (electrical and civil engineering) and healthcare (nurses, medical support and assistants).

The survey ranked workers from Indonesia as the happiest, with an index of 5.27, Vietnam second (5.19), the Philippines third (4.97), Thailand fifth (4.55), Hong Kong sixth (4.45) and Singapore seventh (4.31). – Bernama, January 10, 2018.