Shocker: Singapore's workforce unhappiest in Asia

Level of happiness seen to deteriorate further by 3%.

Where job happiness indices are concerned, Singapore ranks last when compared with her six neighbours, a survey by JobStreet.com has found.

The Philippines comes in first place, with Indonesia in second and Thailand in third. Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore take the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh places respectively.

A 10-point scale rating, the Job Happiness Index reveals candidates’ sentiment ratings and future outlooks as to how happy and satisfied they are and will be with their jobs. Singaporeans averaged a score of 5.09.

A total of 67,764 participants across 7 countries were surveyed last June.

Respondents are a good mix of position levels ranging from fresh graduates to supervisorial and managerial positions and even top management, from all around the country, having stayed in their current jobs for varying lengths of time, and representing various specializations and industries. The survey clues in companies on the factors that make employees leave or stay in a company and the programs and systems they can create to establish a better working environment.

Vietnamese were found to be among the most optimistic with the nation’s Job Happiness Index expecting a 15% increase from the score of 5.48 to 6.30 in the next 6 months. Prominent regional financial centers such as Hong Kong and Singapore are expecting a 5% and 3% drop respectively in the next 6 months.

According to the survey, convenient work location, having good colleagues and company reputation are three key factors underpinning job happiness. This points to the importance of building a strong company culture and assembling the right team of talents who work well with one another.

Other reasons for employee happiness are salary, benefits, leadership, career development, job security, culture, corporate values, trainings, work schedule, and immediate superior.

Conversely, a lack of training and career development and poor leadership were identified as the causes of unhappiness. For top management, this underscores the need to invest in employees and their long-term career advancement. It is also necessary to place competent and well-respected employees in leadership positions —and further groom them so they can undertake their new responsibilities.

To increase job happiness, Singaporean respondents recommend getting a new job (30 percent), desire a higher salary (19 percent), and receiving recognition from the company (9 percent).

Among the Singaporean respondents, fresh graduates (5.3) are found to be the happiest employees in the Singapore workforce. This is in contrast to the lowest-scoring C-suites, who averaged a 4.4. Personnel working in the sciences, hotels and restaurants as well as admin/human resources sectors are found to be the happiest.