[dropcap size=small]A[/dropcap]las, another downer in the ongoing see-saw concerning Singapore’s happiness levels.

Singapore as a whole barely scored a “passing mark” of 5.09 in a 10-point scale rating measuring the sentiment of 3,398 respondents. Those polled were employed across various industries and were spread across different points in career paths, according to Jobstreet.com.

The culprits? Inadequate competency of leadership was cited as the chief reason for discontent, followed by lack of career development and finally poor training opportunities. Salary was only an high-ranking issue in Vietnam and the Philippines.

Chook Yuh Yng, country manager of the job portal’s Singapore branch, had this to recommend to bosses: “Good leadership can be manifested by keeping employees informed on company directions, strategies and even challenges that the company may be facing particularly during an economy slowdown like currently.”

(RELATED: “But let us also recognise that (the Singaporean) is also a champion grumbler,” said Lee Kuan Yew.)

She added: “Dissatisfaction with employee-development efforts usually stem from employees feeling that they are not getting much of what they value highly, such as the ability to grow in their jobs.”

Fresh graduates appeared to be the most content with their situation of all groups, scoring an average of 5.3. The C-suites averaged a 4.4.

When asked on what measures they would take to increase their happiness, Singaporean respondents leaned towards finding a new job, with a shocking 30 per cent of respondents opting to leave, instead of working on the problems at hand. Only 19 per cent said that a salary increment was the most important, and 9 per cent desired recognition from their employers.

On top of being the least happy workers, Singapore’s workforce was also the most pessimistic about job satisfaction in the long run – the expectation was for it to drop to a sub-par 4.93 out of the same 10-point scale within 6 months.

There is a bright spot. There were at least three areas that those surveyed were content with: they enjoyed convenient work locations, had good colleagues and appreciated their companies’ good reputations.

More details will be available from the Jobstreet news page soon.

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