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What Workers Want:

A Worldwide Study of Attitudes to Work and Work-Life Balance
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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
2
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
Managing Director
Charlotte Cornish
FDS International
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Contents

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

5 15

11 20

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Introduction

Lucy Kellaway the FT journalist, has written a retain the good.

provocative forecast in The Economist ‘World
This important study answers vital questions
in 2007’ report. In it she says that the idea of
for all employers today – which aspects of
work-life balance is
employees’ working lives are most important
‘one of the most pernicious and widespread for overall job satisfaction? How important
of all the ideas of flexible working. The is satisfaction with pay? How important is the
phrase not only spawned a thousand working environment? And how important is
conferences but also created false work-life balance?
expectations among workers, and
Our hope is that the results from this study
encouraged companies to be disingenuous
will provide a platform for a more ‘balanced’
about what they wanted (which was really
discussion of the important issues behind
for everyone to work as hard as possible).’
worker satisfaction and help employers in
While it is true that the global marketplace their quest to find and retain the best
has impacted on the UK workplace so that employees.
what we find today is one that has changed
FDS International has conducted analyses
out of all recognition from that of 10, or even
of data collected in the second half of 2006
5 years ago. We do not believe, however,
from 13,832 employees aged 18+ in 23
that the power has swung away from the
countries around the world. The research
employee to the employer. Indeed,
was conducted by members of IriS, the
increasing competition from overseas,
global research group, of which FDS
increasing worker migration, alongside
International is the UK member. Please find
changes in attitudes to ‘a job for life’ and an
further details of IriS and FDS International
increasing emphasis on personal
on the inside back cover.
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

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Theme 1
What makes for employee satisfaction?

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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.
6
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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Table: Predictors of overall job satisfaction, by country and country group

(Pearson’s Correlations) – most important factor is highlighted in yellow for each country

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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Work-life balance is the key predictor of

job satisfaction in the UK. It is crucial for
Variation by country
As we can see, while in 14/23 countries we
employees in the UK to feel they have
find that ‘the opportunity to do an interesting
control over their working life. We go on to
job’ is the most important predictor of job
unpack what this means to UK employees
satisfaction, in 9 of our countries this is not
and how they compare with their global
the case.
counterparts in the rest of this report.
As the ‘country group’-level analysis
shows, the exceptions to the rule may be
Top six predictors for job satisfaction by
summarised by noting that in South and East
key demographic groups
Asian countries, and in Southern European Before we look at work-life balance in
countries, job security appears to be more more detail – a quick detour to highlight
key to job satisfaction. This is something that differences by gender and other
coheres fairly well with our discussion of demographic groups in the top six
different cultures of work-life balance later on predictors. While none of these in
in this report – these countries tend to have a themselves is surprising, it is interesting
‘work is life’ orientation. In Portugal, while job to see the stereotypes confirmed.
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

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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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Comparing smaller and larger businesses

is also worthwhile – the importance of
Money more important to men
Gender differences are not in fact great,
interesting work becomes more pronounced
except where pay is concerned. Men’s job
the larger the business an employee is
satisfaction rests significantly more on their
working for. Perhaps this is explained by the
satisfaction with pay, and somewhat more
kinds of drivers and worries that characterise
on their job security. The tendency for men
life within smaller businesses. The smaller
to maintain their ongoing role as primary
the business, the more important salary
providers in the household doubtless
and job security become to overall job
explains this.
satisfaction.
Advocates of gender equality in
Lastly, work-life balance appears as more
working/caring roles will bemoan the ‘vicious
important to manual than non-manual
circle’ that is at play here: women place less
workers, no doubt reflecting the lack of
importance on their wages, and thus end up
control that most manual workers, except
earning less, caring more, and continuing to
the self-employed, have in their working life.
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.

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Theme 2
Ranking of employee morale

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In Theme 1, we looked at overall job

satisfaction and how this differed by country.
Category Three: Quality of work-life

In this section we develop this theme with

balance, or ‘negative life-impact’ measure
This sub-index looks at the impact of work on
additional variables to highlight differences
workers’ lives outside the workplace.
in overall employee morale by country –
It reflects the fact that an employee might
we produce a ranking to highlight which
be highly satisfied with their job itself, and
countries’ employees have the best morale
the organisation they work for, but
in the world.
nonetheless feel that their job impinges too
We have divided the broad concept, ‘morale’, much on the rest of their life. It is based on
into three sub-categories; these, and their three measures:
component questions, are set out below:
• Satisfaction with balance between work
Category One: Job satisfaction as outlined life and private life
in Theme 1
• Extent to which ‘work-life balance has a
This sub-index is intended to reflect the level negative impact on my health’
of contentment that workers have with their
• Extent to which ‘work-life balance has a
jobs themselves. It is based on the same
negative impact on my relationships’
four measures as in Theme 1:
Each of these sub-indices has an equal
• Satisfaction with prospects for
weight in our overall morale measure.
advancement
The intention here is to produce a measure
• Satisfaction with ‘opportunities to do of morale that is fairly comprehensive, and
an interesting job’ which gives due weight to intrinsic and
extrinsic benefits of work.
• Satisfaction with pay
The table opposite sets out the top-line
• Satisfaction with job security
results from all our indices, by country and
Category Two: Quality of employer- by geographic region.
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’

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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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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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Theme 3
Differentiating attitudes to work-life balance

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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.

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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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Map 1: Relative emphasis placed on various

definitions of work-life balance
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)

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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.

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Theme 4
Worker’s problems around the
globe – the difference between
retention and recruitment

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So to re-cap, in Theme 1, we establish how work-life balance vary from country to

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
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

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

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Continued table: % of workers who feel that various things are problems for them right now

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%

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.

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ge11651 7/3/07 09:21 Page 23

It is worth noting, straightaway, that there is

no very obvious relationship between either
Where are the world’s most demanding

the absolute levels of complaint shown here

workers… and also, conversely, where are

or the level of complaint relative to conditions

the world’s most willing workers?
Our data on the problems that workers face
(‘scale of demands’) shown later in this
is useful on one level. But is it telling us more
section, and job satisfaction – see first
about the realities of workers’ lives, or about
section. That is to say, demanding workers
their attitudes to work? Can this explain the
are not necessarily de-motivated or unhappy
differences with the findings in Theme 1?
but they are more likely to complain about
their situation. When we looked at ‘raw’ levels of complaint,
we’ll recall that workers in CEE and Asian
1: Dissatisfaction with pay is the most
countries generally had the highest levels.
commonly mentioned problem within
But, given that pay levels are in fact relatively
almost every demographic and country.
low in CEE countries, and working hours are
Working hours is the second most
exceptionally long in South Asian countries,
mentioned problem, and lack of flexibility
wouldn’t this be quite justifiable? A
third. This is at odds with the result in
reasonable attitudinal measure, of how
Theme 1, which showed that when asked
‘demanding’ workers are, would surely be
what were the key predictors of overall
based on levels of complaint relative to
job satisfaction, salary level was of less
actual working conditions.
relative importance than having an
interesting job and achieving work-life Put it another way: which workers are
balance. See later on in this section, for really hard done by, and who just think
a discussion of this difference. that they are?

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
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))

more ‘problematic’ may have an attitudinal 2: % who feel their working hours are
dimension, but more likely simply reflects too long (compared with actual
their relatively oppressed position in the working hours)
global workforce.
Let’s look at the results overleaf:
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).

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ge11651 7/3/07 09:21 Page 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 to be dissatisfied despite their relative

measures – pay and working hours – across good fortune.
23 countries, and produces some fascinating
All our top five nations here show a fairly
findings.
high level of worker complaint about both pay
and hours, neither of which are actually
particularly harsh in global terms. A slight
French the most demanding workers
In the overall measure, it is French workers
exception here are US workers, who emerge
who are most demanding, with UK and
as the third most ‘demanding’ in the world.
Swedish workers equal second, that is
Although they are quite happy to work
workers in these countries are most likely

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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 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

in the States, more workers in the US feel

analysis

their pay is a problem than in Thailand. An EIRO (2002) study gives us comparable
data on average annual leave and public
holidays, which intersects with 11 of the
UK second most demanding
Workers in the UK come second overall countries in our study, all of which are
(alongside Sweden) in our global ‘demanding in Europe.
workers’ league table. Again, as with the US,
The table below sets out a comparison which
it is relatively high levels of dissatisfaction
we will now be familiar with – who complains
with pay despite what is, in global terms, a
most about the amount of time off they get,
very good standard of living, that accounts
and who least? – and how does this
for this.
compare with actual holiday time?
Perhaps there is something in the nature
of US/UK society, with its competitive
individualism and highly unequal wealth Table: % of workers who feel that their holiday allowances are
distribution, that accounts for this. This may a problem and actual holiday allowances
provide support for the idea that such
societies, characterised by consumerist and country % feeling Actual days Holiday
individualist ideologies, fail to convert their they don’t annual leave whinge
material wealth and benign working get enough & public rank
conditions into higher levels of satisfaction holidays holidays
or happiness. The comparison with levels
of worker dissatisfaction in Scandinavia,
UK 37% 33.5 1
Northern Europe and Ireland is striking.
Greece 32% 34 2
Irish most willing workers Spain 29% 35 3
Looking to the other end of the scale now, Portugal 24% 37.5 4
it is Irish workers who emerge as the world’s Ireland 13% 29 5
most willing, simply because they are so France 18% 36 6
unlikely to complain about their hours or pay Sweden 14% 36 7
– fewer than one in six employees in Ireland Norway 12% 35 8
indicate a problem with either.
Denmark 9% 38.5 9
Thai workers come a close second. Despite Germany 10% 39.6 10
having the third lowest pay levels within the The Netherlands 8% 39.3 11
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

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ge11651 7/3/07 09:21 Page 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.

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ge11651 7/3/07 09:21 Page 27

About FDS International

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the FDS businesses remained in their
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visit www.fds.co.uk
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