This document summarizes the findings of a worldwide study conducted by FDS International and its partners on worker attitudes toward work and work-life balance. Some key findings include: 1) At a global level, having opportunities to do interesting work is the strongest predictor of overall job satisfaction, while salary/pay is the weakest predictor. 2) However, there is variation between countries - in some Asian and Southern European countries, job security is a more important factor than interesting work. 3) In the UK specifically, having a good balance between private and work life is the strongest predictor of satisfaction, followed by opportunities for interesting work. Pay is again the weakest predictor. 4) Dem

1. What Workers Want:
A Worldwide Study of Attitudes to Work and Work-Life Balance
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2. Foreword
This report represents the findings of the
first study carried out by FDS International in
conjunction with its partners in IriS, a global
network of independent market research
agencies. FDS replaced MORI as the UK
representative in the IriS Network in July
2006. We are delighted to have been able to
see one of the core principles of the Network
realised in this study – ‘be global, think local’
in terms of delivering cost-effective, in-depth
research on international markets while
analysing and appreciating local
requirements.
We hope that through reading the following
pages you gain greater insight into both UK
and international workers attitudes to work
today. There are claims made that the whole
concept of ‘work-life balance’ is dead – as
this study shows, try telling that to a
Norwegian!
FDS International has an excellent track
record in undertaking employee research for
a number of clients within the UK including
British Gas, Transport for London,
Department for Work and Pensions, Identity
and Passport Service and BT. This research
demonstrates our wider capability, with our
IriS partners to provide valuable insight on
an international scale. It also demonstrates
how we approach research projects, adding
context and secondary sources to help
enhance the insight gained from the findings.
We hope that you enjoy reading this report;
indeed, that you find it useful. Should you
want further information about this study in
particular, or the wider capabilities of FDS
International as a full-service market
research provider, please contact me on
+44 (0)20 7272 7766 or e-mail
charlotte.cornish@fds.co.uk
Charlotte Cornish
Managing Director
FDS International
2
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3. 3
Contents
5 15
11 20
Introduction 4
Theme 1: What makes for employee satisfaction? 5
Theme 2: Ranking of employee morale 11
Theme 3: Differentiating attitudes to work-life balance 15
Theme 4: Workers’ problems around the globe – the difference 20
between retention and recruitment
About FDS International 27
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4. 4
Introduction
Lucy Kellaway the FT journalist, has written a
provocative forecast in The Economist ‘World
in 2007’ report. In it she says that the idea of
work-life balance is
‘one of the most pernicious and widespread
of all the ideas of flexible working. The
phrase not only spawned a thousand
conferences but also created false
expectations among workers, and
encouraged companies to be disingenuous
about what they wanted (which was really
for everyone to work as hard as possible).’
While it is true that the global marketplace
has impacted on the UK workplace so that
what we find today is one that has changed
out of all recognition from that of 10, or even
5 years ago. We do not believe, however,
that the power has swung away from the
employee to the employer. Indeed,
increasing competition from overseas,
increasing worker migration, alongside
changes in attitudes to ‘a job for life’ and an
increasing emphasis on personal
development and transferable skills, have all
impacted on the competition between
employers for good employees.
It is harder than ever to recruit the best and
retain the good.
This important study answers vital questions
for all employers today – which aspects of
employees’ working lives are most important
for overall job satisfaction? How important
is satisfaction with pay? How important is the
working environment? And how important is
work-life balance?
Our hope is that the results from this study
will provide a platform for a more ‘balanced’
discussion of the important issues behind
worker satisfaction and help employers in
their quest to find and retain the best
employees.
FDS International has conducted analyses
of data collected in the second half of 2006
from 13,832 employees aged 18+ in 23
countries around the world. The research
was conducted by members of IriS, the
global research group, of which FDS
International is the UK member. Please find
further details of IriS and FDS International
on the inside back cover.
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5. 5
Theme 1
What makes for employee satisfaction?
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6. 6
A previous international study, using the
World Values Survey (WVS), has indicated
that a shift takes place, as societies become
more affluent and the nature of employment
changes, from a focus on extrinsic work
values (pay, working hours – the benefits a
job has for the employees’ life outside of
work), to a focus on intrinsic work values
(the quality of the work itself).
Some researchers have questioned the
validity of the extrinsic/intrinsic rewards
dichotomy, and suggested that more complex
schema are necessary to understand
employee motivation. This is certainly a well-
researched area. However, few academic
studies (aside from the WVS) occupy the
international range of this research study,
which represents a broad spectrum of
countries in the developed world, in terms
of geography, industrial structures, and
income levels so although our measures
are relatively simple by academic standards,
and we do not attempt more than a passing
reference to the large body of theory and
research in this area, we believe that our
recent research can make a useful
contribution to the understanding of what
constitutes job satisfaction and how this
varies internationally.
Top six predictors for job satisfaction
Let’s begin with our first question.
At a ‘global’ level, what makes for
job satisfaction?
The results here may surprise – the list
below sets out in order, where 1 is the
most important, the factors most closely
associated with overall job satisfaction:
1: (the strongest predictor of overall job
satisfaction): Opportunities to do an
interesting job
2: Recognition for your performance
3: Balance between private life and worklife
4: Prospects for advancement
5: Job security
6: (the weakest predictor of overall job
satisfaction): Your salary/payment.
A remarkable result! At a global level, pay is
the least good predictor of job satisfaction.
Furthermore, as we’ll see below, it does not
constitute the most important predictor in
any of the countries in our survey.
While items 4 and 5 in our ranking are
somewhat ambiguous in terms of the
extrinsic/intrinsic reward dichotomy, it is
clear enough that it is intrinsic rewards that
matter most, at a ‘global’ level.
The broad message to employers is clear –
the opportunity to do something interesting
at work is what matters most for overall job
satisfaction. Investing in skills development,
promoting initiative and creativity, and
inclusivity in strategic decision-making would
appear to make for a happier workforce than
simply jacking up wage levels.
At first glance, this might be just what
employers want to hear! But this result
should not be taken to mean that token
measures will suffice to replace wage
increases – making all employees’ jobs
more interesting presents a very different,
and hugely more complex and nuanced,
challenge for employers.
Furthermore, while wage increases for
existing staff may not be effective ‘in and of
themselves’, for many, wage increases are
the language of recognition – the second
most important factor in employee
satisfaction. To put it more colloquially,
‘money talks’. And it must be remembered
that pay rises have a symbolic as well as
an economic value. And lastly, we must
remember that the dynamics of recruitment
are very different from the dynamics of
retention.
On the following page, our table sets out the
variations in levels of correlation between
various measures and overall job satisfaction
between the countries in our study. As we’ll
see, we find universal confirmation of the
idea that salary is not ‘where it’s at’ – but
also intriguing variations in the most
important components of job satisfaction.
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7. Table: Predictors of overall job satisfaction, by country and country group
(Pearson’s Correlations) – most important factor is highlighted in yellow for each country
7
Country advancement interesting job recognition salary work life balance job security
Australia 0.495 0.585 0.459 0.377 0.348 0.377
Brazil 0.369 0.401 0.444 0.371 0.374 0.340
Canada 0.409 0.561 0.476 0.275 0.343 0.294
France 0.268 0.412 0.333 0.177 0.254 0.141
Germany 0.279 0.566 0.490 0.268 0.356 0.310
Greece 0.398 0.300 0.394 0.330 0.300 0.379
Ireland 0.392 0.454 0.362 0.152 0.310 0.417
Japan 0.468 0.592 0.554 0.432 0.489 0.540
Korea 0.299 0.259 0.129 0.251 0.171 0.429
China 0.358 0.344 0.326 0.422 0.416 0.583
Poland 0.293 0.586 0.494 0.296 0.455 0.300
Portugal 0.234 0.136 0.226 0.225 0.273 0.149
Romania 0.308 0.359 0.352 0.300 0.366 0.166
Russia 0.256 0.414 0.387 0.298 0.222 0.211
Spain 0.257 0.286 0.358 0.270 0.321 0.306
Switzerland 0.201 0.422 0.242 0.097 0.242 0.129
Thailand 0.260 0.386 0.140 0.251 0.397 0.410
The Netherlands 0.286 0.383 0.410 0.211 0.253 0.301
UK 0.366 0.386 0.375 0.232 0.414 0.283
USA 0.416 0.537 0.466 0.341 0.443 0.414
Norway 0.237 0.496 0.333 0.124 0.192 0.180
Sweden 0.315 0.688 0.296 0.055 0.337 0.381
Denmark 0.240 0.508 0.426 0.128 0.267 0.142
Country Groups
Scandinavian 0.270 0.575 0.346 0.105 0.273 0.239
Northern European 0.304 0.509 0.428 0.260 0.353 0.284
Southern European 0.304 0.296 0.326 0.341 0.414 0.417
Central & Eastern European 0.288 0.452 0.422 0.303 0.355 0.226
North American 0.413 0.549 0.471 0.307 0.392 0.354
South American 0.369 0.401 0.444 0.371 0.374 0.340
South & East Asian 0.525 0.529 0.462 0.473 0.440 0.549
UK & Ireland 0.384 0.414 0.380 0.205 0.388 0.326
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8. Variation by country
As we can see, while in 14/23 countries we
find that ‘the opportunity to do an interesting
job’ is the most important predictor of job
satisfaction, in 9 of our countries this is not
the case.
As the ‘country group’-level analysis
shows, the exceptions to the rule may be
summarised by noting that in South and East
Asian countries, and in Southern European
countries, job security appears to be more
key to job satisfaction. This is something that
coheres fairly well with our discussion of
different cultures of work-life balance later on
in this report – these countries tend to have a
‘work is life’ orientation. In Portugal, while job
security is less important than in Spain and
other southern European countries, having
an interesting job is the least important
factor, reflecting the ‘work is life’ orientation.
In South American countries, ‘recognition’
appears as more important than ‘interesting
job’.
Top six predictors for job satisfaction
in the UK
The results in the UK are as follows:
1: (the strongest predictor of overall job
satisfaction): Balance between private
life and worklife
2: Opportunities to do an interesting job
3: Recognition for your performance
4: Prospects for advancement
5: Job security
6: (the weakest predictor of overall job
satisfaction): Your salary/payment
Work-life balance is the key predictor of
job satisfaction in the UK. It is crucial for
employees in the UK to feel they have
control over their working life. We go on to
unpack what this means to UK employees
and how they compare with their global
counterparts in the rest of this report.
Top six predictors for job satisfaction by
key demographic groups
Before we look at work-life balance in
more detail – a quick detour to highlight
differences by gender and other
demographic groups in the top six
predictors. While none of these in
themselves is surprising, it is interesting
to see the stereotypes confirmed.
8
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9. 9
Table: Predictors of overall job satisfaction, by demographic groups
(Pearson’s Correlations) – key differences in the UK are highlighted in pink
Gender advancement interesting job recognition salary work life balance job security
Male 0.364 0.486 0.415 0.360 0.397 0.406
Female 0.362 0.474 0.407 0.298 0.382 0.366
Age
18-25 0.394 0.483 0.396 0.372 0.357 0.390
26-35 0.397 0.480 0.406 0.338 0.363 0.380
36-45 0.357 0.478 0.412 0.328 0.426 0.373
Over 45 0.336 0.479 0.423 0.305 0.392 0.402
Education level
Low 0.343 0.432 0.420 0.323 0.417 0.434
Medium 0.362 0.471 0.369 0.340 0.396 0.374
High 0.370 0.506 0.448 0.325 0.379 0.387
Place of work
Non profit
organisation 0.317 0.471 0.391 0.257 0.342 0.270
Own/micro-
business
(1-4 people) 0.384 0.395 0.437 0.442 0.410 0.442
Small business
(5-19 people) 0.382 0.445 0.361 0.358 0.357 0.430
Medium business
(20-99 people) 0.373 0.470 0.424 0.323 0.412 0.409
Large business
(100-1,000 people) 0.356 0.502 0.382 0.317 0.397 0.385
Business over
1,000 people 0.357 0.540 0.476 0.312 0.402 0.343
Manual or non-manual worker
Non-manual
(ABC1) 0.374 0.476 0.404 0.338 0.362 0.402
Manual (C2DE) 0.356 0.471 0.396 0.322 0.439 0.392
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10. Money more important to men
Gender differences are not in fact great,
except where pay is concerned. Men’s job
satisfaction rests significantly more on their
satisfaction with pay, and somewhat more
on their job security. The tendency for men
to maintain their ongoing role as primary
providers in the household doubtless
explains this.
Advocates of gender equality in
working/caring roles will bemoan the ‘vicious
circle’ that is at play here: women place less
importance on their wages, and thus end up
earning less, caring more, and continuing to
rely on male partners to determine the
household’s standard of living.
Recognition is more important for older
workers
Younger workers’ job satisfaction is more
dependent than older workers on
opportunities for advancement and salary,
while ‘recognition’ becomes more important
as we go through our working lives.
Educated workers want interesting jobs
More highly educated workers place greater
importance on doing an interesting job, while
less educated workers’ satisfaction lies more
in work-life balance and job security.
Perhaps not surprisingly, workers in non-
profit organisations have a strikingly different
attitude to work than those in commercial
outfits, being far less concerned with
advancement, salary and security.
Comparing smaller and larger businesses
is also worthwhile – the importance of
interesting work becomes more pronounced
the larger the business an employee is
working for. Perhaps this is explained by the
kinds of drivers and worries that characterise
life within smaller businesses. The smaller
the business, the more important salary
and job security become to overall job
satisfaction.
Lastly, work-life balance appears as more
important to manual than non-manual
workers, no doubt reflecting the lack of
control that most manual workers, except
the self-employed, have in their working life.
10
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11. Theme 2
Ranking of employee morale
11
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12. In Theme 1, we looked at overall job
satisfaction and how this differed by country.
In this section we develop this theme with
additional variables to highlight differences
in overall employee morale by country –
we produce a ranking to highlight which
countries’ employees have the best morale
in the world.
We have divided the broad concept, ‘morale’,
into three sub-categories; these, and their
component questions, are set out below:
Category One: Job satisfaction as outlined
in Theme 1
This sub-index is intended to reflect the level
of contentment that workers have with their
jobs themselves. It is based on the same
four measures as in Theme 1:
• Satisfaction with prospects for
advancement
• Satisfaction with ‘opportunities to do
an interesting job’
• Satisfaction with pay
• Satisfaction with job security
Category Two: Quality of employer-
employee relationships
This sub-index is intended to reflect worker’s
feelings about their employers and
managers, and the degree to which they
feel supported, and in turn support their
management. It is based on three measures:
• Extent to which workers trust decisions
made by management
• Extent to which workers have faith in the
strategic direction of their organisation
• Satisfaction with ‘recognition for your
performance’
Category Three: Quality of work-life
balance, or ‘negative life-impact’ measure
This sub-index looks at the impact of work on
workers’ lives outside the workplace.
It reflects the fact that an employee might
be highly satisfied with their job itself, and
the organisation they work for, but
nonetheless feel that their job impinges too
much on the rest of their life. It is based on
three measures:
• Satisfaction with balance between work
life and private life
• Extent to which ‘work-life balance has a
negative impact on my health’
• Extent to which ‘work-life balance has a
negative impact on my relationships’
Each of these sub-indices has an equal
weight in our overall morale measure.
The intention here is to produce a measure
of morale that is fairly comprehensive, and
which gives due weight to intrinsic and
extrinsic benefits of work.
The table opposite sets out the top-line
results from all our indices, by country and
by geographic region.
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13. 13
Table: Employee morale index, and sub-indices
Country overall job quality of employer- work-life
employee satisfaction employee relations balance
morale index index index index
The Netherlands 64 64 62 68
Ireland 62 59 64 64
Thailand 62 66 70 49
Switzerland 59 57 62 56
Denmark 54 54 56 49
UK 53 56 54 49
Norway 52 50 54 53
France 50 48 49 54
China 50 41 57 50
Brazil 50 40 55 54
Spain 50 47 53 51
Romania 50 48 55 46
Russia 49 47 51 52
Greece 49 46 56 45
Sweden 48 45 48 51
USA 46 44 49 47
Portugal 45 56 64 16
Canada 45 44 47 45
Poland 44 41 47 42
Korea 43 35 47 50
Australia 42 45 47 35
Germany 42 39 39 49
Japan 33 26 33 42
Scandinavian 51 50 53 51
Northern European 53 51 53 57
Southern European 48 48 58 39
Central & Eastern European 48 45 51 47
North American 46 44 48 46
South American 50 40 55 38
South & East Asian 47 43 51 47
UK & Ireland 58 57 59 56
European 51 50 54 50
North American 46 44 48 46
South American 50 40 55 38
South & East Asian 47 43 51 47
Male 49 48 53 47
Female 50 47 53 48
Non-manual (ABC1) 51 50 54 47
Manual (C2DE) 48 45 52 47
Under 35 50 47 53 48
Over 35 50 48 53 47
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14. The World Beaters
The world beater in terms of employee
morale is The Netherlands, with Thai and
Irish workers tying for second place.
The Lowest Reported Morale
Japanese workers reported the lowest
morale by quite a long way, and were low on
all three indices, and German workers were
second last overall.
It is perhaps surprising to see German and
Japanese workers scoring so low, especially
on satisfaction with employee employer co-
operation. This may well be reflecting the fact
that these cultures have traditionally very
high expectations in this regard. While
economic fortunes are beginning to turn
around again in both countries, these results
may represent a legacy of recent economic
misfortune, and an ongoing failure of
workplaces to live up to levels of expectation.
While a ‘continental’ analysis may be useful
for summarisation, it is clear enough that this
hides major differences between individual
countries (for example note that Germany
and the Netherlands appear at opposite ends
of the scale, as do Japan and Thailand).
Perhaps the comparison of European sub-
regions is more useful. Here, the UK and
Ireland emerge as having the highest level
of morale among the European sub-regions,
edging out the European competition on all
three sub-indices too.
In the UK, some may point to the decisive
shift that took place in British industrial
relations in the 1980s, while some will point
to New Labour’s record of steady increases
in workers’ standards of living, their halting
of growing income inequality, and their
progressive legislative record on work-life
balance issues. In any case, a collective pat
on the back is in order (and an extra public
holiday to celebrate, perhaps?!).
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15. 15
Theme 3
Differentiating attitudes to work-life balance
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16. As we highlighted in Theme 1, in the UK
having a balance between private life and
work life is the most important predictor for
overall job satisfaction. In most other
countries, however, interesting work is the
key predictor. In Theme 3, we dig deeper –
looking in detail at how attitudes to work life
balance differ around the globe.
Before we start, it should be noted that
discerning different ‘cultures’ of work-life
balance around the globe is complicated by
two research factors:
1: In some countries, response rates are
higher for every item. This illustrates a
well-known tendency for positive ‘yes’
responses to be higher in some cultures,
than in others, regardless of subject.
2: Certain items consistently score higher
than others, regardless of which country
respondents are from. We see this in the
table opposite, the ‘global’ ranking of
definitions of work-life balance is echoed
in the great majority of countries, with
‘balancing and separating home and
work, and ‘giving weight to home issues’
the predominant definition. This could
lead to the conclusion that, by and large,
attitudes to work-life balance are the
same around the globe.
16
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17. 17
Table: What does the term ‘work-life balance’ mean to you? (% choosing each definition,
by country) – top % highlighted in yellow for each country
Balancing Achieving a Good co- Having Flexibility Employer Improved Standard of Innovative
home and quality of life operation flexibility towards awareness working working life solutions
work/giving (general) between in work home of employees’ environment through the
weight to employer & hours issues needs use of
home issues employee technology
Global average 61% 58% 49% 46% 46% 46% 43% 42% 35%
Country
Australia 71% 59% 39% 40% 31% 38% 20% 25% 19%
Brazil 87% 95% 92% 86% 89% 88% 94% 90% 87%
Canada 71% 59% 44% 40% 35% 43% 31% 27% 20%
France 70% 85% 81% 65% 69% 77% 77% 78% 67%
Germany 41% 45% 76% 65% 61% 57% 39% 67% 37%
Greece 66% 89% 83% 68% 70% 77% 78% 77% 65%
Ireland 67% 70% 44% 45% 39% 39% 31% 47% 22%
Japan 66% 41% 24% 28% 37% 22% 39% 19% 7%
Korea 29% 49% 24% 29% 38% 28% 33% 18% 31%
Mexico 48% 27% 4% 28% 31% 14% 10% 5% 15%
China 57% 61% 45% 37% 34% 36% 61% 39% 17%
Poland 76% 35% 27% 16% 26% 25% 16% 20% 18%
Portugal 31% 63% 42% 41% 32% 38% 35% 21% 27%
Romania 77% 87% 87% 61% 77% 77% 84% 74% 73%
Russia 36% 36% 24% 37% 25% 32% 31% 23% 18%
Spain 71% 70% 61% 69% 55% 62% 63% 62% 52%
Switzerland 67% 52% 78% 66% 64% 70% 62% 74% 59%
Thailand 75% 92% 89% 84% 89% 85% 76% 90% 79%
The Netherlands 73% 61% 75% 58% 64% 66% 59% 55% 52%
UK 71% 77% 70% 61% 66% 69% 60% 60% 50%
USA 79% 54% 39% 33% 29% 38% 25% 18% 16%
Norway 53% 27% 4% 10% 7% 9% 4% 2% 2%
Sweden 44% 41% 14% 6% 1% 7% 5% 14% 3%
Denmark 46% 24% 17% 17% 38% 17% 7% 9% 5%
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18. 18
A better approach
In order to overcome these problems we’ve
done a correspondence analysis, which:
1: First factors out the difference in overall
levels of response in different countries
2: Then factors out the tendency for some
definitions to do better than others.
So, what we are left with is the relative
emphasis that workers place on different
items in different countries which more
clearly demonstrates the differences in
attitudes to work-life balance between
each country.
The map opposite places each country’s
scores on a 3-dimensional map. Each
dimension is based upon a combination
of two of the items above, as follows:
‘Work vs. life’ index: Relative emphasis
placed on items one and four above (giving
weight to home issues and flexible hours)
‘Work is life’ index: Relative emphasis placed
on items seven and eight above (standard
of work life and working environment)
‘Co-operative’ index: Relative emphasis
placed on items three and six
(employee/employer co-operation and
employer awareness of employee needs)
Map 1: Relative emphasis placed on various
definitions of work-life balance
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19. This approach produces results that are fairly
intuitively satisfying.
Workers in the Scandinavian countries –
(and in Mexico and Japan, interestingly)
are most likely to emphasise a ‘work vs. life’
attitude, with the Norwegians the most
extreme in emphasising a ‘defensive’ attitude
to work-life balance and the attendant
demand for flexibility .
North American and Australian workers
exhibit marginally more emphasis on a
work vs. life attitude, but are also likely to
emphasise a co-operative stance.
Workers in all the Asian countries in our
study, Brazil and some Southern European
countries tend towards a ‘work is life’ attitude,
placing more emphasis on improvement in
work conditions rather than limiting the
impact on home life as such. This ties in
neatly with the findings in Theme 1, which
showed that in these countries ‘job security’
is a more important factor for overall job
satisfaction.
It is perhaps no surprise to find Germany,
The Netherlands and Switzerland exhibiting
a tendency towards a ‘co-operative’ attitude.
The UK and Portugal are also in this
category. For all these countries, it is
relatively more important that there is co-
operation between employee and employer
and a high level of awareness on the part of
the employer about their employees’ needs.
We should bear in mind that these
differences in emphasis only make sense in
a comparative context: some countries are
more like this than others – such descriptions
might be misleading if presented in isolation
from the ‘global’ truth: that workers in the vast
majority of developed countries tend to see
the work-life balance issue in terms of
balance – but with differing weight to home
issues, the need for flexibility, co-operation
and employer awareness of employee needs.
19
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20. Theme 4
Worker’s problems around the
globe – the difference between
retention and recruitment
20
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21. So to re-cap, in Theme 1, we establish how
predictors of job satisfaction vary around the
globe and what employers need to do to
keep their employees happy. In Theme 2,
we give a ranking for employee morale.
Theme 3, highlights how overall attitudes to
work-life balance vary from country to
country. In this section, we dig deeper and
look at what workers in each county consider
to be the problems impacting on their ability
to do their work.
Table: % of workers who feel that various things are problems for them right now
21
Number of Time it takes to Not getting Not getting Having to Having to No flexibility Not enjoying Dissatisfaction
hours that commute /travel enough enough care for care for in working the work with pay
you work to work holidays/paid unpaid children adults hours you do
time off time off
Global 26% 20% 22% 17% 15% 12% 23% 16% 36%
Country
Australia 40% 28% 23% 13% 12% 7% 23% 22% 30%
Brazil 27% 30% 25% 31% 16% 16% 29% 19% 45%
Canada 25% 19% 29% 16% 13% 6% 22% 20% 35%
France 18% 18% 18% 18% 14% 11% 23% 17% 43%
Germany 27% 18% 10% 4% 7% 7% 13% 18% 33%
Greece 41% 20% 32% 20% 19% 15% 35% 14% 40%
Ireland 21% 15% 13% 7% 5% 2% 12% 4% 15%
Japan 26% 12% 28% 17% 9% 8% 15% 18% 38%
Korea 42% 29% 37% 28% 30% 32% 47% 14% 44%
Mexico 27% 37% 10% 12% 16% 15% 13% 14% 17%
China 37% 29% 30% 23% 21% 17% 23% 16% 43%
Poland 26% 19% 23% 24% 15% 6% 24% 14% 55%
Portugal 26% 17% 24% 15% 14% 14% 24% 11% 42%
Romania 23% 25% 41% 35% 32% 35% 38% 28% 59%
Russia 27% 29% 36% 18% 36% 39% 31% 32% 61%
Spain 34% 25% 29% 33% 19% 14% 38% 23% 41%
Switzerland 12% 11% 12% 11% 7% 8% 14% 8% 18%
Thailand 19% 17% 18% 16% 15% 22% 31% 13% 32%
The Netherlands 12% 11% 8% 14% 6% 7% 10% 9% 15%
UK 26% 26% 37% 30% 22% 12% 29% 22% 40%
USA 26% 18% 26% 14% 11% 7% 19% 20% 38%
Norway 23% 12% 12% 7% 11% 3% 14% 7% 23%
Sweden 28% 14% 14% 6% 5% 4% 17% 12% 35%
Denmark 20% 13% 9% 7% 12% 1% 11% 9% 22%
Continued over
ge11651 7/3/07 09:21 Page 21

22. 22
Continued table: % of workers who feel that various things are problems for them right now
Nb: In the table above, the highest levels of response for each problem, i.e. in each column,
(the top 5 countries, and also the highest country group/gender/age etc) are highlighted in pink.
The highest level of response in each row (i.e. the top problem within each country or demographic)
is highlighted by a bold outline to the cell and bold contents.
Number of Time it takes to Not getting Not getting Having to Having to No flexibility Not enjoying Dissatisfaction
hours that commute /travel enough enough care for care for in working the work with pay
you work to work holidays/paid unpaid children adults hours you do
time off time off
Global 26% 20% 22% 17% 15% 12% 23% 16% 36%
Country
All Europe 24% 18% 20% 15% 14% 11% 21% 15% 36%
UK & Ireland 23% 19% 22% 14% 12% 6% 18% 11% 25%
Scandinavian 24% 13% 12% 6% 9% 3% 14% 9% 27%
Northern
European 17% 15% 12% 12% 9% 8% 15% 13% 27%
Southern
European 33% 23% 28% 24% 18% 15% 28% 17% 42%
Central & Eastern
European 26% 24% 32% 23% 27% 24% 30% 24% 58%
North American 26% 19% 28% 15% 12% 7% 20% 20% 36%
South American 27% 33% 17% 21% 16% 15% 21% 16% 31%
South & East
Asian 29% 19% 28% 21% 18% 21% 31% 15% 38%
Male 25% 19% 21% 16% 12% 11% 21% 16% 33%
Female 28% 21% 23% 18% 18% 14% 25% 16% 39%
Non-manual
(ABC1) 28% 23% 23% 17% 16% 13% 23% 15% 34%
Manual
(C2DE) 26% 18% 24% 18% 15% 13% 24% 17% 41%
Under 35 29% 22% 24% 19% 15% 10% 25% 17% 37%
Over 35 25% 19% 21% 15% 15% 13% 21% 15% 35%
ge11651 7/3/07 09:21 Page 22

23. 23
It is worth noting, straightaway, that there is
no very obvious relationship between either
the absolute levels of complaint shown here
or the level of complaint relative to conditions
(‘scale of demands’) shown later in this
section, and job satisfaction – see first
section. That is to say, demanding workers
are not necessarily de-motivated or unhappy
but they are more likely to complain about
their situation.
1: Dissatisfaction with pay is the most
commonly mentioned problem within
almost every demographic and country.
Working hours is the second most
mentioned problem, and lack of flexibility
third. This is at odds with the result in
Theme 1, which showed that when asked
what were the key predictors of overall
job satisfaction, salary level was of less
relative importance than having an
interesting job and achieving work-life
balance. See later on in this section, for
a discussion of this difference.
2: Certain countries and demographics have
a higher level of response for most or all
items. Unlike in the case of Theme 2,
where cultural knowledge indicates a
likely difference in response patterns – we
have to take this at face value. It does
seem intuitively fairly plausible that in
countries such as Romania and Russia
workers will indeed have more difficult
working lives. Equally, the fact that
women and younger workers find work far
more ‘problematic’ may have an attitudinal
dimension, but more likely simply reflects
their relatively oppressed position in the
global workforce.
3: The biggest differences between
countries emerge in levels of satisfaction
with pay (particularly low in Central and
Eastern Europe (CEE countries)), and the
‘care burden’ on workers (again, in CEE
countries, workers are four times more
likely than British workers to shoulder
elderly-care responsibilities, and eight
times more likely than Scandinavian
workers).
Where are the world’s most demanding
workers… and also, conversely, where are
the world’s most willing workers?
Our data on the problems that workers face
is useful on one level. But is it telling us more
about the realities of workers’ lives, or about
their attitudes to work? Can this explain the
differences with the findings in Theme 1?
When we looked at ‘raw’ levels of complaint,
we’ll recall that workers in CEE and Asian
countries generally had the highest levels.
But, given that pay levels are in fact relatively
low in CEE countries, and working hours are
exceptionally long in South Asian countries,
wouldn’t this be quite justifiable? A
reasonable attitudinal measure, of how
‘demanding’ workers are, would surely be
based on levels of complaint relative to
actual working conditions.
Put it another way: which workers are
really hard done by, and who just think
that they are?
Some of our ‘problems’ data, if placed
alongside ILO and World Bank statistics,
give us the opportunity to compare workers’
perceptions to global realities.
We can look at two measures that cover all
the countries in the study:
1: % who feel their pay is a problem
(compared with actual average levels
of income relative to the cost of living
(Purchasing Power Parities))
2: % who feel their working hours are
too long (compared with actual
working hours)
Let’s look at the results overleaf:
ge11651 7/3/07 09:21 Page 23

24. 24
Table: Worker complaints and the realities of work: 23 countries, pay and working hours
Pay Working hours
Country Overall % unhappy Actual income Pay % feeling Actual Hours
‘whinginess’ with pay relative to whinge working hours average whinge
rank cost of living rank impinge on weekly working rank
private life hours
France 1 43% 30540 2 34% 34.5 6
UK =2 40% 32690 3 35% 36.4 7
Sweden =2 35% 31420 6 38% 35.7 4
USA 3 38% 41950 1 31% 39.6 11
Australia =4 30% 30610 12 44% 34.8 2
Portugal =4 42% 19730 13 57% 39.1 1
Canada =5 35% 32220 5 28% 31.9 10
Greece =5 40% 23620 10 38% 39.8 5
Poland 6 55% 13490 14 45% 39.8 3
Germany =7 33% 29210 8 28% 34.5 12
Spain =7 41% 25820 7 28% 35.2 13
Japan 8 38% 31410 4 25% 42.2 19
Switzerland 9 18% 37080 16 33% 36.1 8
Norway 10 23% 40420 11 24% 34.9 17
Brazil 11 45% 8230 21 35% 42 9
Denmark =12 22% 33570 15 27% 34.5 16
Korea =12 44% 21850 9 18% 45.7 22
Romania 13 59% 8940 18 31% 41.2 14
China 14 43% 6600 22 29% 37.8 15
Russia 15 61% 10640 17 17% 33.2 21
The Netherlands 16 15% 32480 20 17% 29.7 20
Thailand 17 32% 8440 23 30% 48.9 18
Ireland 18 15% 34720 19 15% 35.1 23
This analysis of two very fundamental
measures – pay and working hours – across
23 countries, and produces some fascinating
findings.
French the most demanding workers
In the overall measure, it is French workers
who are most demanding, with UK and
Swedish workers equal second, that is
workers in these countries are most likely
to be dissatisfied despite their relative
good fortune.
All our top five nations here show a fairly
high level of worker complaint about both pay
and hours, neither of which are actually
particularly harsh in global terms. A slight
exception here are US workers, who emerge
as the third most ‘demanding’ in the world.
Although they are quite happy to work
ge11651 7/3/07 09:21 Page 24

25. 25
long hours, the fact that US workers have by
far the highest levels of income (relative to
the cost of living) in the world, and yet almost
four in ten feel that their pay is a problem,
places them third. Compare US workers with
Thai workers, for example – while real levels
of income are more than eight times higher
in the States, more workers in the US feel
their pay is a problem than in Thailand.
UK second most demanding
Workers in the UK come second overall
(alongside Sweden) in our global ‘demanding
workers’ league table. Again, as with the US,
it is relatively high levels of dissatisfaction
with pay despite what is, in global terms, a
very good standard of living, that accounts
for this.
Perhaps there is something in the nature
of US/UK society, with its competitive
individualism and highly unequal wealth
distribution, that accounts for this. This may
provide support for the idea that such
societies, characterised by consumerist and
individualist ideologies, fail to convert their
material wealth and benign working
conditions into higher levels of satisfaction
or happiness. The comparison with levels
of worker dissatisfaction in Scandinavia,
Northern Europe and Ireland is striking.
Irish most willing workers
Looking to the other end of the scale now,
it is Irish workers who emerge as the world’s
most willing, simply because they are so
unlikely to complain about their hours or pay
– fewer than one in six employees in Ireland
indicate a problem with either.
Thai workers come a close second. Despite
having the third lowest pay levels within the
23 countries, and the longest working hours
(at a staggering 48.9 hours per week), Thai
workers have lower than average levels of
complaint on both counts.
Workers in The Netherlands also emerge as
some of the world’s most willing. Here (as in
Ireland) it is not a case of great forbearance
in the face of low pay and long hours – in
fact, pay and hours are relatively good.
The reason The Netherlands does so well is
because workers there have exceptionally
low levels of complaint, with fewer than one
in six saying hours are a problem and only
17% feeling pay is a problem – way below
the levels seen in other countries aside from
Ireland (see also the basic ‘problems’ data
table on pages 21 and 22).
Introducing holiday allowances into the
analysis
An EIRO (2002) study gives us comparable
data on average annual leave and public
holidays, which intersects with 11 of the
countries in our study, all of which are
in Europe.
The table below sets out a comparison which
we will now be familiar with – who complains
most about the amount of time off they get,
and who least? – and how does this
compare with actual holiday time?
Table: % of workers who feel that their holiday allowances are
a problem and actual holiday allowances
country % feeling Actual days Holiday
they don’t annual leave whinge
get enough & public rank
holidays holidays
UK 37% 33.5 1
Greece 32% 34 2
Spain 29% 35 3
Portugal 24% 37.5 4
Ireland 13% 29 5
France 18% 36 6
Sweden 14% 36 7
Norway 12% 35 8
Denmark 9% 38.5 9
Germany 10% 39.6 10
The Netherlands 8% 39.3 11
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26. 26
UK workers most holiday hungry
Among the 11 countries included here,
it is UK workers who emerge as the most
‘holiday hungry’ – to be fair, overall holiday
allowances in the UK are not generous by
European standards, but the proportion of
workers who are unhappy with their holiday
allowance is almost three times higher than
the European average in the UK, at 37%.
Compare, for example, Irish workers, who
get four and a half days less than those in
the UK, but are almost three times less likely
to complain about it!
In summary:
At a European level then, we find that:
• French workers are the most demanding
about their pay (in both absolute and
relative terms)
• Greek workers are the most demanding
about their working hours (in both absolute
and relative terms)
• UK workers are the most demanding about
their holiday allowances (in both absolute
and relative terms)
Our overall, combined measure shows that
workers in France and the UK are the most
demanding (relative to reality – and in
absolute terms, on the whole), while those
in The Netherlands are the most content.
ge11651 7/3/07 09:21 Page 26

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About FDS International
27
ge11651 7/3/07 09:21 Page 27

28. FDS International Limited
Hill House
Highgate Hill
London, N19 5NA
+44 (0)207 272 7766
enquiries@fds.co.uk
ge11651 7/3/07 09:21 Page 28