A recent survey by Jobstreet and Jobsdb by SEEK revealed that Malaysian employees are the second unhappiest among six Southeast Asian countries, trailing just behind Singapore.
Conducted in May 2024 and shared by SME Asia, the survey shows that 12% of Malaysian workers are unhappy, behind Singapore’s 19%.
The survey included over 5,000 respondents from across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, ranking the Philippines (11%), Thailand (9%), Hong Kong (9%) and Indonesia (4%).
Inadequate salary and benefits was the main source of dissatisfaction (53%) followed by lack of recognition (36%) and lack of career advancement opportunities (36%).
Additionally, according to SEEK’s Southeast Asia Hiring, Compensation and Benefits Report 2024, heavy workloads (37%), high pressure from management (27%) and lack of career development opportunities (23%) are the primary stress factors identified.
Despite the high stress levels, only 48% of companies offer sufficient stress management support.
In Malaysia, employers have focused more on employee engagement activities (17%) compared to mental health and wellness counselling, which is more common in the Philippines (30%) and Indonesia (15%).
The report also highlighted that Malaysian companies lead in salary benchmarking practices (59%) in the region.
