For Global Workers, 2012 Will Be a Mixed Bag

According to the latest Randstad Workmonitor survey, workers across the globe feel slightly – but not totally – positive about conditions in 2012.  The good news is, those of us in the U.S. are not alone.  The bad news is, it’s going to take longer to dig out of our economic hole since it doesn’t appear that our neighbors are in a position to help out.

In 21 of the 30 countries surveyed, employees expect to have more disposable income compared to 2011. But only in a bit more than half of the countries (18 out of 30), respondents feel their employer is entering a better year financially compared to 2011.

Rewards for Performance

In most countries, at least 60 percent of the employees feel that their salary does not reflect their performance, which could be related to uncertain economic times. These numbers run especially high in Poland, Hungary (both 79 percent) and Greece (81 percent).

Willingness to Relocate

This one is interesting.  In general, employees do not want to move (abroad) for a job even if it would be a job better suited for them; less than a third of the respondents worldwide would do so.

In China and India, however, employees do not have problem with relocation: 64 percent and 58 percent respectively would move if the right job comes along. In some cases a pay rise serves as an incentive, although employees in Denmark, Japan, Luxembourg and Switzerland indicate they want to stay put even if there is a pay rise connected to a job for which they have to move.

Job Satisfaction

In Europe, Norwegian, Danish and Dutch employees are the most satisfied. Outside Europe, Mexico and India rank highest. Japan has the least satisfied employees.  You might recall that less than two years ago, the Conference Board reported that U.S. workers had the lowest job satisfaction rates recorded in 22 years (only 45 percent were satisfied with their jobs in 2010).

Personal Motivation and Retirement

The most ambitious employees can be found in Turkey and Italy as well as in Mexico and India. Employees in the Nordics and Japan are not very much focused on getting a promotion.  Seventy percent of U.S. workers report that they expect to work beyond their official retirement age, and 59 percent of those say they’re happy about this.

Do these numbers reflect how you are feeling, and what's happening in your workplace?

This post was originally published on Intuit's Quickbase blog.

Comments

[Daniel Milstein]

True said Alexandra. This is true to say that the employees must be thinking of this year be full of ups and downs in their life. Somewhere there will be promotions, some where transfers and some where even job satisfaction could be the main issue. They must be hoping for a better financial year as compare to 2011. One thing I learned before I became a bestselling author and long before Inc Magazine voted my company as one of the fastest growing companies is that your blog post is like forecasting blog post making people aware of the coming ups and downs in their jobs and business.

[Daniel Milstein]

Lots of thought on that blog but very interesting. Often times workers are extra motivated by pay increases for superb job performance. It is sad that the economy may make some employers seemingly disregard pay increases for very good outputs from their workers. It is very interesting to know that despite good pay abroad, there are still a lot who wouldn't relocate. There might be many factors that play here but perhaps most of those who answered "no" might be married parents because they are hesitant leaving their children behind.

[Alexandra Levit]

@Daniel: Thanks for the thoughtful comments. I know my husband would never go for me leaving him and the kids behind for a job overseas!