Job satisfaction report

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“The pleasure of work is open to anyone who can develop some specialised skill, provided that he can get satisfaction from the exercise of his skill without demanding universal applause.”

— Bertrand Russell

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Other reports:

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Methodological notes: 

• Job satisfaction is measured using the JDS scale (Hackman & Oldham, 1974) and is composed of the average of three survey items: “Generally speaking, I am very satisfied with my current job”, “I am generally satisfied with the kind of work I do in my current job”, and “I frequently think of quitting my current job” (reverse coded). 

• Respondents’ agreement with each of the three statement is measured using a 5-point Likert scale with 5 indicating strong agreement and 1 indicating strong disagreement. All scales reported below correspond to this 5-point agreement scale, unless otherwise indicated.

• Data is collected via field survey that take place in major transportation hubs in Macao as well as several residential areas. Respondents are selected following a systematic random sampling technique and interviews are conducted face-to-face with the help of a structured questionnaire. Interviews are conducted in either English or Chinese. Respondents are interviewed if they are permanent or non-permanent residents, or hold non-resident worker’s permit, and are employed full-time in Macao at the time of the survey. 

• Total number of respondents for the 2012 survey wave was 525 and 1,046 for 2013. Description of the sample’s  characteristics can be found here.

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Results

1.0  Overall job satisfaction

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Compared to 2012, there was a slight but significant increase in overall job satisfaction in all employment sectors. It is notable, however, that the means for 2012 and 2013, are only slightly above the 5-point satisfaction scale mid-point of 3.00.

2.0 Job satisfaction by industry sector

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Respondents from all industry sectors report job satisfaction higher than the mid-point of 3.0 in the 5-point agreement scale. Of the 12 industry sectors, workers from the gaming and casino sectors report the lowest  levels of job satisfaction, followed next by those in the food and beverage sectors and by workers in hotels and resorts. Workers employed in other sectors (i.e., other than those listed) report the highest levels of job satisfaction, followed by workers in public administration. 

Job satisfaction levels were better in most sectors in 2013, with the exception of those working in travel agencies, tour companies and MICE organizations, as well as those in the construction, manufacturing and utility sectors.

(Note: the industry classification system in this chart follows that of the Census and Statistics Bureau of Macau or DSEC.) 

3.0 Job satisfaction by monthly income

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Employees with monthly income of MOP30,000 or above report significantly higher levels of job satisfaction than those earning below MOP30,000. This pattern arises for both 2012 and 2013. Employees earning up to MOP9,999, however, expressed significantly better job satisfaction in 2013 compared to 2012.

4.0 Job satisfaction by level of educational attainment

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With the exception of workers having received no formal education, the level of job satisfaction hardly differs between those with different types of educational attainment, although this can change from year-to-year. Workers with no formal educational attainment report significantly lower job satisfaction compared to those with some or extensive educational attainments. The lack of difference in job satisfaction between workers of different educational attainment seems to suggest a lack of “fit” between what their employment requires from them and the skills and abilities they have acquired or for which they have been formally trained or educated.

5.0 Job satisfaction by residency status

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There is little difference between permanent and non-permanent residents in the level of their job satisfaction, except in 2013 when non-permanent residents expressed slightly better levels of job satisfaction. Non-permanent workers tend to exhibit greater variation in the level of their job satisfaction (as suggested by the larger bands of the error bars in the chart below). Generally, however, non-residents permit holders tend to express lower levels of job satisfaction compared to others.

6.0 Job satisfaction by marital status

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Married workers expressed higher levels of job satisfaction compared to their single or unattached colleagues in 2013 and slightly better than their job satisfaction in 2012. 

7.0 Job satisfaction by presence of children

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Workers with children significantly expressed higher levels of job satisfaction compared to their colleagues who have no children in 2013 and slightly better than their job satisfaction in 2012.

8.0 Job satisfaction by gender

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Little if any difference in job satisfaction levels exists between male and female workers, suggesting good gender equality conditions at Macau’s organizations.

9.0 Job satisfaction by shift work duty

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Employees working in shift or irregular schedules express lower overall job satisfaction than those working with regular hours. The difference in job satisfaction may have even widened in 2013, compared to 2012.

End of report.

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Perceived fairness of compensation and benefits report

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“Your employees come first. And if you treat your employees right, guess what? Your customers come back, and that makes your shareholders happy. Start with employees and the rest follows from that.”

— Herb Kelleher

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Other reports:

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Methodological notes: 

• Perceived fairness of compensation and benefits  is measured using a two-item scale developed by Mount & Bartlett (2002). The two items are:  “Compared to similar companies in my industry, I am paid fairly for the work I do,” and “Compared to similar companies in my industry, the benefits I receive at my company are fair.” 

• Respondents’ agreement with each of the above statements is measured using a 5-point Likert scale with 5 indicating strong agreement and 1 indicating strong disagreement. All scales reported in the charts below correspond to this 5-point agreement scale, unless otherwise indicated.

• Data is collected via field survey that take place in major transportation hubs in Macao as well as several residential areas. Respondents are selected following a systematic random sampling technique and interviews are conducted face-to-face with the help of a structured questionnaire. Interviews are conducted in either English or Chinese. Respondents are interviewed if they are permanent or non-permanent residents, or hold non-resident worker’s permit, and are employed full-time in Macao at the time of the survey. 

• Total number of respondents for the 2012 survey wave was 525 and 1,046 for 2013. Description of the sample’s  characteristics can be found here.

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Results

1.0  Overall perceived fairness of CAB

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Overall, workers expressed relatively positive perception of fairness in the compensation and benefits received from their organizations, with mean agreement level at 3.39 (out of  a scale maximum of 5) in 2013 and 3.41 in 2012--statistically unchanged.

2.0 Perceived fairness of CAB by industry sector

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Across different industry sectors, perceived fairness of CAB varied. Workers in public administration, travel-related sectors as well as hotels and resorts, for example, report generally higher perceived fairness than others such as those in the leisure, entertainment and creative as well as the food and beverage and casino/gaming sectors.

There also seems to be significant shifts in perceived fairness across just two years of survey data. In some sectors, perceived fairness was reported higher in 2013 than in 2012 but the opposite could be observed in other sectors. 

What the data seems to suggest is that perceived fairness of organizational compensation and benefits is a highly volatile and changeable observation by workers. This in turn suggests that organizations frequently update relative information covering compensation and benefits to dispel misconceptions.

(Note: the industry classification system in this chart follows that of the Census and Statistics Bureau of Macau or DSEC.)

3.0 Perceived fairness of CAB by monthly income

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Not surprisingly, perceived fairness of compensation and benefits received significantly increases as monthly income received increases. The “floor” of perceived fairness is relatively set by those earning the lowest monthly income (i.e., less than MOP10,000 per month), for whom perceived fairness hovers around the 5-point scale mid-point of 3.0, observed in both the survey years 2012 and 2013.

4.0 Perceived fairness of CAB by level of educational attainment

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There is also an observed correlation between level of educational attainment and perceived fairness of compensation and benefits received (together of course with the monthly income). Workers with higher levels of educational attainment report significantly higher perceived fairness. Interestingly, for workers with no formal education, and those with primary and middle school education, there is no significant difference in perceived fairness--workers having lower than high school education, therefore, tend to have the same perceived fairness levels. It might benefit organizations to distinguish CAB entitlements not solely in terms of work performance but in tandem with considerations for whether or not workers attain or have attained some form of education.

5.0 Perceived fairness of CAB by residency status

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Non-resident workers tend to express the lowest levels of perceived compensation and benefits, followed next by non-permanent residents (though for this group, their opinion varied between 2012 and 2013) and permanent residents, who expressed the highest levels of perceived compensation and benefits.

6.0 Perceived fairness of CAB by marital status

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There is no difference between workers who are married and workers who are single in terms of the way they perceive their compensation and benefits received as fair. Both groups of workers report generally favorable perceived fairness and this sentiment remained consistent in 2012 and 2013.

7.0 Perceived fairness of CAB by presence of children

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There is no difference between workers who have children and workers who do not have children in terms of the way they perceive their compensation and benefits received as fair. Both groups of workers report generally favorable perceived fairness and this sentiment remained consistent in 2012 and 2013.

8.0 Perceived fairness of CAB by gender

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There is no difference between male and female workers in terms of the way they perceive their compensation and benefits received as fair. Both groups of workers report generally favorable perceived fairness and this sentiment remained consistent in 2012 and 2013.

9.0 Perceived fairness of CAB by shift work duty

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Despite higher work stress, lower levels of job satisfaction, and lower intent-to-stay (see other accompanying reports to this one), shift workers express little or no significant difference compared to non-shift workers in terms of the way they perceive their compensation and benefits received as fair. Both groups of workers report generally favorable perceived fairness and this sentiment remained consistent in 2012 and 2013.

End of report.

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Intent to stay report

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“Leaders are leaders only as long as they have
the respect and loyalty of their followers.”

— Hans Seliye

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Other reports:

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Methodological notes

• Intent-to-stay (ISS) is measured using a scale developed by Hunt, Osborn & Martin (1981) and is assessed as the average level of agreement with four survey items: “I will definitely leave this organization in the next year”, “It is very unlikely that I would ever consider leaving this company”, “If I were completely free to choose, I would prefer very much not to continue working for this organization”, and “It is very important for me to spend my career in this organization.” ISS can be considered a proxy for employee loyalty (though loyalty itself is a far more multi-dimensional concept) and may be able to predict short- to medium-term turnover levels at organizations.

• Respondents’ agreement with each of the above statements is measured using a 5-point Likert scale with 5 indicating strong agreement and 1 indicating strong disagreement. All scales reported in the charts below correspond to this 5-point agreement scale, unless otherwise indicated.

• Data is collected via field survey that take place in major transportation hubs in Macao as well as several residential areas. Respondents are selected following a systematic random sampling technique and interviews are conducted face-to-face with the help of a structured questionnaire. Interviews are conducted in either English or Chinese. Respondents are interviewed if they are permanent or non-permanent residents, or hold non-resident worker’s permit, and are employed full-time in Macao at the time of the survey. 

• Total number of respondents for the 2012 survey wave was 525 and 1,046 for 2013. Description of the sample’s  characteristics can be found here.

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Results

1.0  Overall intent-to-stay

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Survey respondents in 2012 and 2013 did not seem to indicate a strong propensity to stay nor leave their organizations, with the overall average in the ISS scale hovering near the 5-point scale mid-point value of 3.00. Average score for the ISS in 2013 was 3.32 and hardly differed statistically from the 3.27 average recorded in 2012.

2.0 Intent-to-stay by industry sector

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Across different industries, employees’ intent-to-stay at their organizations vary considerably. Those working in the gaming and casino  and in the transport, storage and communication sectors tend to “sit on the fence”most (see bottom of the chart on the right). Somewhat close to this level of indifference are workers in the food and beverage and hotels and resort sectors. Sectors with high-levels of intent-to-stay include public administration and the construction, manufacturing and utilities sectors. 

(Note: the industry classification system in this chart follows that of the Census and Statistics Bureau of Macau or DSEC.) 

3.0 Intent-to-stay by monthly income

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The MHR Monitor shows a possible relationship with income and intent-to-stay, with those receiving higher monthly income expressing higher levels of ISS than those with lower monthly income. This relationship seems consistent during both survey waves conducted in 2012 and 2013.

4.0 Intent-to-stay by level of educational attainment

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Survey data shows that workers with educational attainment at the Master’s level or above tend to have significantly higher intent-to-stay than those with Bachelor’s level of education or below. There appears to be no difference in this relationship between the two survey waves conducted in 2012 and 2013.

5.0 Intent-to-stay by residency status

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There is no statistical difference in the intent-to-stay between permanent and non-permanent resident workers. However, non-resident workers reported significantly lower ISS in 2012, though their average improved considerably in 2013. 

6.0 Intent-to-stay by marital status

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Workers who are married reported significantly higher intention-to-stay at their organizations in 2013 than they did in 2012. For workers who are single or unattached, their intent-to-stay is generally and significantly lower than married workers and this sentiment remained the same across both survey years in 2012 and 2013.

7.0 Intent-to-stay by presence of children

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Workers without children generally report significantly lower intention to stay at their organizations than workers with children. This was observed in both survey years 2012 and 2013. For some reasons, however, this sentiment was enhanced in 2013, with workers with children expressing significantly greater intent-to-stay in 2013 than in 2012.

8.0 Intent-to-stay by gender

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Though general levels of intentions to stay at their organizations remained the same for both 2012 and 2013, there seemed to have been a reversal in opinion for male and female workers. In 2012, male workers expressed greater intent-to-stay at their organizations than did female workers; in 2013, however, this sentiment was reversed, with female workers expressing significantly greater intent-to-stay at organizations compared to male workers. It is incumbent for organizations to determine possible internal and external causes to this reversal in gender sentiments regarding continuing their careers at their current organizations.

9.0 Intent-to-stay by shift work duty

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Workers in shift duties or irregular scheduled work hours show significantly lower intent-to-stay at their organizations than those working regular hours. This sentiment was consistent for both survey years 2012 and 2013. Generally, therefore, shift workers have greater propensity toward leaving their organizations at any time. 

End of report.

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Work stress report

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“Sometimes when people are under stress, they hate to think, and it’s the time when they most need to think.”

— William J. Clinton

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Other reports:

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Methodological notes: 

• Work stress is measured using the job stress scale (JSS) developed by Lambert, Hogan, Camp & Ventura (2006)  and is assessed as the average of respondents’ level of agreement with four survey items: “A lot of time my job makes me very frustrated or angry”, “I am usually under a lot of pressure when I am at work”, “When I’m at work I often feel tense or uptight”, “I am usually calm and at ease when I am working” (reverse coded), and “There are a lot of aspects of my job that make me upset.” 

• Respondents’ level of agreement is captured using a 5-point Likert scale with 5 indicating strong agreement and 1 indicating strong disagreement. All scales reported in the charts below correspond to this 5-point agreement scale, unless otherwise indicated.

• Data is collected via field survey that take place in major transportation hubs in Macao as well as several residential areas. Respondents are selected following a systematic random sampling technique and interviews are conducted face-to-face with the help of a structured questionnaire. Interviews are conducted in either English or Chinese. Respondents are interviewed if they are permanent or non-permanent residents, or hold non-resident worker’s permit, and are employed full-time in Macao at the time of the survey. 

• Total number of respondents for the 2012 survey wave was 525 and 1,046 for 2013. Description of the sample’s  characteristics can be found here.

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Results

1.0  Overall work stress

Compared to 2012, there was a slight but significant increase in overall work stress levels across all employment sectors in 2013. Nevertheless, work stress levels as a whole have been below the scale mid-point of 3.0 since 2012. Generally, therefore, work stress levels have not been high for organizations in Macao, despite a robust growth in economic activity.

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2.0 Work stress by industry sector

Sectors with the highest work stress levels include the gaming, casino, finance and leisure, entertainment and cultural sectors. Workers in transport, storage and communication as well as travel or tour related companies and those in the MICE sector also report comparatively higher work stress than other industries. Nevertheless, the sector with the highest work stress levels in 2013, gaming and casinos (= 3.01), approaches only the middle of the 5-point scale, suggesting that workers in this sector find work to be neither too stressful nor too calming. 

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(Note: the industry classification system in this chart follows that of the Census and Statistics Bureau of Macau or DSEC.) 

3.0 Work stress by monthly income

There appears to be a significant relationship between the level of monthly income earned by workers and the degree of work stress experienced, with higher income coinciding with higher reporting of work stress levels. However, this relationship reverses sometimes, as has happened in the last two years of the MHRM survey. In 2013, workers with monthly income at MOP30,000 or more reported lower work stress levels than in 2012. The reverse was observed for workers earning less than MOP30,000 per month on average: Work stress level for these groups was significantly higher in 2013 than in 2012.

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4.0 Work stress by level of educational attainment

Though there are slight differences in the level of work stress of workers having different types of educational attainment, these differences were not significantly different and attributable only to chance.

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5.0 Work stress by residency status

Stress levels were higher in 2013 than in 2012 across the board for all workers, regardless of their residency status in Macao. Despite the significant increase (especially for permanent residents), overall stress levels for all groups are below the scale mid-point of 3.0.

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6.0 Work stress by marital status

For married workers, work stress levels were more or less stable across 2012 and 2013. For workers who are single or unattached, however, 2013 was relatively and significantly more stressful than 2012, even if the overall average is below the scale mid-point of 3.0.

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7.0 Work stress by presence of children

Workers without children reported significantly higher work stress in 2013 than in 2012. For workers with children, the opposite was true--2013 was less stressful than 2012. Though organizations have to adopt policies that will meet the needs of workers with or without children, it is imperative that such policies do not favor one over the other and should be adopted to changing external circumstances for either demographic group.

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8.0 Work stress by gender

For both female and male workers, 2013 was slightly but significantly more stressful relative to 2012.

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9.0 Work stress by shift work duty

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Workers in shift schedules or working in irregular hours generally report significantly higher work stress than workers with regular hours. Such sentiments became significantly even more pronounced in 2013 especially for workers with shift schedules, though both shift and non-shift workers reported generally higher stress levels in 2013.

End of report.

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