It has been almost two years since the pandemic began. Since then, companies around the world have been scrambling to beef up their employee benefits and experience in order to keep their existing workforce healthy and happy. With the “Great Resignation” now in full swing, organizations are pushing their employee retention strategy even further in the hopes of keeping their employees onboard. Failing to do so will put companies in a precarious situation as the war for talent grows ever more fierce with each passing day.
But are employees really happy with the way things are right now? According to a recent survey by GoodHire, it seems that there are quite a few workers who are perfectly content. The report, which surveyed the multiple working generations, revealed that 48 percent of workers are happy with their current work arrangements; a surprisingly high number considering the rate of resignations occurring throughout the world currently.
Of the working generations, Millennials (Gen Y) were found to be the happiest at 57 percent, followed by Gen X at 52 percent. The Baby Boomers and Gen Z were the least happy with both groups at 41 percent each. This research is rather interesting as the Boomer generation and Gen Z are near polar opposites and hold very different views and values.
In fact, according to the research, it was Gen Z who said they were the unhappiest, with up to 22 percent of those surveyed saying that they hate their work. For the most part, it seems that Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X are most bothered by unsatisfactory bosses, while the Boomer generation were most affected by insufficient pay.
The research also showed that Gen Z, millennials and Gen X were far more accustomed to the switch to remote work, with more than half of each group being happy with the new ways of work. The Baby Boomers however, were not thrilled with the changes to work-life, with only 37 percent of Boomers saying they were happy with new arrangements.
Overall, it was the Millennial generation that scored the highest in overall happiness. Interestingly enough, with regards to preference for a four-day work week, up to 90 percent of Millennials were in support of the idea. However, it was Gen Z that was most opposed to the idea, with only 76 percent of those surveyed supporting a four-day work week.
