Most Australian Workers Happy with Jobs and Bosses

28 November 2006

Two out of three workers happy in jobs
Bosses scored seven out of ten

A new international workplace survey has found that the overwhelming majority of Australian employees are happy in their work, and they also believe that their bosses are doing a good job.

The survey by leading recruitment agency, Kelly Services, found that 65% of Australian workers were either happy or very happy with their current position. 

On a global scale, Australia’s workers ranked 9^th out of 28 countries for the happiest workers.

The quality of Australian bosses has received rare praise from workers.  Asked to score their bosses out of 10, the average score given to bosses was a respectable 7.0, up from 6.4 when the same question was asked in 2002.

The Kelly Global Workforce Index sought the views of approximately 70,000 people in 28 countries including almost 2,000 in Australia.

Australia’s most contented workers are in NSW with 69% stating they were happy in their jobs, followed by Queensland (68%), Western Australia and ACT (both 65%), Victoria and South Australia (both 58%), and Tasmania and Northern Territory (both 50%).

“This suggests that many organisations are doing well when it comes to keeping their employees engaged and motivated,” Kelly Services Country Manager, James Bowmer said.  

“Surprisingly, bosses have been given high marks by workers in what amounts to a vote of confidence in managerial performance”.

Bosses were rated on four attributes – communication, leadership, team spirit and delegation skills.  Workers felt that bosses were best at delegating effectively and weakest when it comes to communication.

Younger workers viewed their bosses more favourably, while women rated their bosses slightly higher than men.

Globally, Australia ranks sixth out of 28 countries for the best bosses. 

On the question of who makes the best bosses – men or women – the vast majority (69%) said it makes no difference. But 19% said they preferred a male boss compared with 12% preferring a female boss.

The best bosses were in Western Australia (7.2) followed by ACT, NSW and Queensland (7.1), Victoria (7.0), South Australia and Northern Territory (6.8), and Tasmania (6.5).

Some 65% of workers in Australia said that their bosses rewarded them for a job well done while 28% said they were rewarded rarely or never.

“It’s important to try and find what makes a contented and motivated workforce because workers who enjoy their work will make a more effective contribution to the performance of the organisation. 

“The best employers understand this and provide people with interesting and challenging work as well as opportunities to learn and more fully develop their own skills.

“If we look at what workers say is important to them, they want a workplace with good morale, stimulating work, a degree of autonomy, and one where they receive feedback from their bosses.

“Simply taking the time to tell someone when they’ve done a good job or provide some constructive feedback can make a big difference.

“Many employers recognise this but it’s not universal.  Sometimes senior managers are so busy managing the business they frequently overlook the people aspects, which are so important,” Mr Bowmer said.

Those Australians most happy in their jobs were in Business Services (74%), Education (72), IT and Financial Services (both 71%) and Government (70%).

Media contact: 
Bob Bowden
Foresight Communications
02 90241 2811 or 0412 753 298