Singapore has the unhappiest workforce in the world: study

Singapore ranked ahead of Malaysia, New Zealand, and Australia with the least happy workforce.

Singapore has the unhappiest workforce in the world, a study found, after 48% of its employees stated they were unhappy in their workplace and will unlikely recommend it to a friend.

In the 2021 global report on the Impact of COVID-19 on Business Owners and Employees, Employment Hero surveyed more than 1,000 Singapore employees and employers.  

Singapore, along with the UK, ranked as the country with the least happy workforce, followed by Malaysia (42%), New Zealand (41%) and Australia (40%). In contrast, Singapore also showed the highest concern on workers’ mental health.

Of this 68% of the employers said they are supportive of measuring employees’ mental health, but only 41% of employees agreed. Similarly, 62% of employers said they have tools to measure mental health issues, but only 39% of workers agreed.

Despite this, the report found that 50% of Singapore employers are now planning to focus on mental health in 2021.

Lack of clear structures, workflows and open communications across the organisation is adding unnecessary stress and strain on employees that are already struggling to cope with general pandemic-related anxiety,” Ben Thompson, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Employment Hero, said. 

“We can see that employees who were working remotely pre-pandemic are faring much better due to the right design and execution of remote working structures.”