PH employees’ work outlook

The results of the 2023 Hopes and Fears Global Workforce Survey conducted by PwC, a multinational professional service company, on some 54,000 workers in 46 countries, including the Philippines, had shown interesting information about the work attitude and disposition of Filipino employees.

The respondents in the Philippines consisted of 1,000 Filipino employees from different age brackets.

According to PwC Philippines, in comparison to employees in the Asia-Pacific region, the survey on Filipino employees showed the following

(a) 70 percent are moderately satisfied with their jobs which is higher than the average of 57 percent in the region;

(b) 56 percent believe their organization will be in business for more than 10 years if they remain on their current path as against 51 percent in the region;

(c) 71 percent believe their employers will provide them the opportunity to apply the skills that are most important to their careers in the next five years versus 48 percent in the region.

The percentage in the last finding is the highest among the countries surveyed in the region, along with Thailand.

At the same time, however, the survey showed that Filipino employees are more likely to ask for a pay raise or promotion compared to their counterparts in the region.

Whether this finding has cultural undertones or a reflection of the state of the economy in the other countries is a big question mark.

The fact remains that, unless the company is losing, the issue of salary increases is always at the top of the list in all negotiations for renewal of collective bargaining agreements in unionized companies.

The finding on moderate job satisfaction should be welcome news to businesses that, by the nature of their operation, have to employ Gen Zs (or those born between 1997 and 2012) who are prone to quitting their jobs if their work expectations are not immediately met by their employers.

Aside from causing unnecessary disruption in operation, the high turnover of employees forces employers to incur additional expenses for training new employees.

And there is no assurance new employees would be able to learn the necessary work skills or not go the way of the employees they replaced.

The employees’ belief that their organization would continue to be in operation for more than a decade may be interpreted as an expression of confidence in the ability of their employers to keep their businesses going as long as they maintain their management systems. As HR (human resources) professionals would attest, the employees’ belief in the competence of their executives contributes significantly to high employee morale and productivity.

Still on the survey results, that level of trust appears to be further amplified by the employees’ belief that their employers would maintain a work environment that would enable them to hone their skills and, hopefully, help improve their standing in the corporate structure.

The subliminal message of this assumption is their employers would, in a manner of speaking, treat them as partners in the business and not as mere employees who should be content with just getting paid on time or being promoted depending on the employer’s mood.

Take a bow, bosses!

All told, based on the survey results, there appears to be a high level of optimism among most Filipinos employed in the private sector on the continuity of their employment and, correlatively, receipt of proper compensation.

This development is significant in light of the trauma the Philippines went through in the recent past due to the pandemic that caused the closure of thousands of businesses and the consequent loss of jobs by many Filipinos.

Although the unemployment rate in the country is still on the high side, there are strong indications that the economy is slowly, but effectively, getting back to prepandemic levels.

Fingers crossed. INQ