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Singapore – A degree of workplace dissatisfaction is necessary

23 April 2014

“Workplace happiness goes beyond salary and benefits, but organisations often focus on the bottom line, and neglect their employees' personal well-being,” said Goh Jin Hian, Vice-President of the Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI), reports channelnewsasia.com.

Dr Goh said: "It's easy to say that people are its greatest assets, but many organisations then face a high turnover, which is exactly what's happening in many organisations today."

Studies show that happy workers work better, are more creative, and more likely to stay on the job. HR experts agree, however, that a certain degree of dissatisfaction is necessary to keep employees challenged and motivated to do better.  

According to Dr Goh, knowing exactly what makes employees happy could be the next "holy grail" for companies operating in a tight labour market like Singapore.

A new survey on workplace satisfaction, which will be conducted in collaboration with the SHRI and research firm Align Group, will be tapping the National Trades Union Congress's database of 800,000 workers.

Vivek Kumar, secretary of NTUC Membership Council, said: "This survey [will] help us identify, at different life stages of the workers, what are the areas we can do more, the areas they are already satisfied and happy. That then helps us fine-tune our programmes."