
The results
“The index is an indicator for employers, helping them realise where they need to emphasise aspects of work culture to attract or retain talent.” – Daniel Eckhert, Universum
Scandinavians are happy with their current jobs, but will look ahead
We often hear sunny snow-capped tales of happy societies in the northern lands, including surveys advocating better quality of life and higher economic productivity. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that the Nordic countries come top trumps for employee satisfaction with their current jobs. This includes the countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, but Finland stands out as a somewhat strange exception. Employees don’t follow the modern trends of looking ahead to future job prospects, as at national levels, employees seem to stay with the same employer, thus there is no ‘current job’ but a lifelong occupation.Latin America
“In countries where young professionals are less happy, an important driver is development and learning opportunities, while in the happier countries, improved work-life balance is a top-driver”. – Daniel Eckhert, UniversumLatin American countries such as Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Peru also display impressive levels of job satisfaction among employees. However, they are more willing to look ahead and consider future job opportunities. They are more likely to change employer over the next couple of years.
Dissatisfied but still won’t change employers

Other surprising anomalies
Usually, the logical trend goes, the higher a country’s GDP and general economic performance, the happier the workforce. But the study has shown that some of the world’s richest countries have the least happy employees. For example, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE are countries with high GDP, but their workforces are lurking at the lower end of the Happiness Index.Un-happy working culture at the ‘bottom’ can impact those higher up
Again, this could also be down to cultural, social, and to some extent, economic factors within these middle-eastern countries listed above. One example being migrant labour, especially among workers from India who often face poor working conditions, low pay, and incidents of racism.
Gender always plays a part
The research shows a clear pattern between female employee happiness in a country and the number of women participating in the labour economy. Generally, western European countries have a happier female employee index simply because there are more women working in that region. This contrasts with parts of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, countries that are not faring so well when it comes to female happiness in the labour market.India is getting professional about female enfranchisement
However, India is making great strides in facilitating greater female participation in their professional economic landscape. So it will be interesting to see if the general happiness index among female professionals rises in the years to come.Thoughts
What the findings show is that whilst the problems concerning employee happiness, or lack of it, can be found in data, the answers to solving these issues lie in dealing with human emotions. This means that employers, senior staff and HR teams need to listen to staff, and understand their needs, ambitions and objectives. This will create a working eco-system that allows for clear communication pathways between employees and employers. This will make it easy for the workforce to voice concerns, and feel able to move on if their job situation isn’t making them fulfilled or happy. Creating a workplace based on clarity of communication will mean businesses can also rescue their brand from potentially damaging accusations and loss of brand reputation.Share this story