Half of S'poreans polled will work for lower pay

Half of S'poreans polled will work for lower pay

Thu, Mar 05, 2009
AsiaOne

Half of Singaporean workers interviewed are willing to work for a lower pay if they found real value in their work, said a survey.

The survey, Kelly Global Workforce Index, was conducted by Kelly Services in December last year.

Findings were generally in line with the global result which showed that almost the same percentage of workers globally would do the same.

However, the figure for Singapore ranked below those of China (63 per cent), India (62 per cent) and even Hong Kong (57 per cent), United Kingdom (56 per cent) and Australia (55 per cent).

The Singapore figure was also lower than the Asia Pacific average, where over 54 per cent of workers will accept a lower pay if they found real value in their work.

The survey carried out interviews with nearly 100,000 people in 34 countries worldwide (including 3,600 from Singapore) under the Generation Y (18-29), Generation X (30-47), and Baby Boomer (48-65) age groups.

While many survey respondents have reservations about the real value of their work, the vast majority perform their tasks to high personal standards.

A total of 84 per cent of Singapore workers also say that the work they perform gives them a sense of pride. This proportion of the respondents who took pride in their work is generally similar to those of other respondents from the global and Asia Pacific regions.

However, the survey found that compared to their counterparts in the Asia Pacific region, fewer employees in Singapore believed that their self-confidence is enhanced by their work.

Only 78 per cent of the Singapore workers surveyed view that their work contributed to their self-confidence, while 81% of those surveyed in the Asia Pacific region felt the same way.

Source: http://business.asiaone.com/Business/News/Office/Story/A1Story20090305-126348.html