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Sky-high salaries fail to please UK workers

UK workers are becoming less concerned with the size of their payslips, according to figures released this week. Even though living costs and working hours are both on the rise, many bosses are finding that their employees want more than just a bigger pay packet.

According to the fifth annual City & Guilds Happiness Index, financial rewards are not the answer to job satisfaction. Instead, having an interest in what you do for a living is the number one factor for ensuring on-the-job contentment.

The Happiness Index reveals that 57% of us have remained with our present employer as a result of a strong interest in what we do for a living, and only 44% of us remain in the job as a direct result of salary.

The report also revealed the profile of the UK’s happiest worker, who is apparently a female beauty therapist aged over 60 from the North East.

Rather than modernising and expanding their reward packages in line with employee expectations, the City & Guilds Happiness Index shows that employers’ offerings are out of touch. While 43% of managers offer bonuses, only one in five are adopting flexible working practices, despite work-life balance being a demonstrated, major driver of happiness at work.

Bob Coates, Managing Director of City & Guilds, said: “With a clear impact on the bottom line, improving workplace happiness is rising up the business agenda and employers cannot afford to ignore it. Companies can no longer rely on those established reward and recognition policies that fail to resonate with employees and do little to combat stress levels in the workplace. By taking such a blinkered approach, they risk the rise of an unmotivated and unproductive workforce, and even potentially losing their staff to competitors.”

For further information about the 2008 Happiness Index, and a profile of a ‘happy’ North East beauty therapist, visit www.cityandguilds.com/happiness

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .