5 March 2007
Good communication beats pay in worker happiness survey
Employee satisfaction is more influenced by how people communicate than by level of earnings, study reveals.
British workers say good relations with colleagues are more important to workplace happiness than financial reward, according to a survey by HR consultancy, Chiumento.
The study found that while 73% of employees feel strong interaction with contemporaries creates a postive mood, less than 50% mention pay as a factor in their enjoyment of the workplace.
If organizations think a little more deeply about what employees really want, they could reap the rewards.
Business need to pay more attention to the value of good relationships at work, says Chiumento's chief executive, Sarah Chiumento. "They also need to look harder at issues like treating staff fairly, ensuring communication is good, and fostering a positive atmosphere," she says. "If organizations think a little more deeply about what employees really want, and what will make them happy, they could reap the rewards."
Small can be good
The Chuimento survey also revealed that small firms have better morale than larger ones, with 86% of employees in businesses with less than 100 staff saying they were happy at work compared to 78% in companies with more than a thousand people.
The finding is unsurprising, says Simon Briault of the Federation of Small Businesses. "In small businesses there's an informal, personal atmosphere that you don’t get in large organizations," he says. "People talk a lot, which means office politics tend to get ironed out early on. In the small business workplace there's a lot to be saif for face-to-face contact and working things out."
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