Salary and Manager Evaluations affect job satisfaction among permanent employees

80% are confident in their value as talented workers, 90% are interested in being headhunted
 

Recruitment firm Robert Walters Japan announces survey results on worker satisfaction at their current occupation and their interest in changing jobs

TOKYO, October 29th, 2019 – Specialist professional recruitment firm Robert Walters announced the results from a survey of 2,465 permanent employees in Japan utilizing their English ability and expertise about their level of satisfaction with their current occupation and their level of interest in changing jobs.

Job satisfaction: Permanent employees value “salary” over “manager evaluations”; training programmes also ranked highly

In response to being asked to rate the importance of several criteria relating to job satisfaction, permanent employees most commonly valued “salary and benefits”, followed by “evaluations and support from managers” as second, “the nature of the work” third and “training” valued fourth. Over 80% of participants saw these four areas as significant elements that directly affect their job satisfaction. In answers from contract and temporary employees, work-life balance was placed second and ranked higher than the nature of the work. Only 60% of permanent employees included work-life balance as a factor in their job satisfaction, which was valued seventh.

80% of full-time employees are confident to be in demand as talented workers and to have market value; 90% are interested in being headhunted

While many workers chose “salary and benefits” as an important factor in their job satisfaction, just 10% of all participants said that they anticipated a "salary increase of 11% or more"—almost the same rate as when changing jobs—in a question asking how much they think their base pay will increase for the next fiscal year. In response to the statement, "There are many opportunities to change jobs in your profession” 41% answered "strongly agree" and 38% answered "agree." These results show that awareness has spread regarding increased labour shortages, and that workers are confident in their own demand and market value. In addition, 89% of respondents—including those who had recently changed jobs—answered "yes" when asked "would you be open to a job approach even when not actively looking?" This indicates that a significant majority of workers are open to being headhunted for new opportunities, considering that salaries are increasing at a slower pace in the current climate.

Deciding factors for changing jobs: "Salary and benefits" ranked first, "promotion or career development" ranked second and "working in an international environment” ranked third

When the survey was held in 2018, the most common responses to the question "what are the deciding factors for changing jobs?” were "job content", "salary and benefits" and "location," in that order. This year, "salary and benefits" ranked first, while "promotion or career advancement” came second and "international environment" was third. These results indicate the employees’ proactive stance with what could be viewed as a results-oriented approach, where they exert effort in contributing to business, and expect fair compensation and promotion in return. With the recent issue raised on households needing an extra 20 million yen in addition to pension savings, as well as declining economic confidence, respondents may be even more conscious about compensation than before. With changes beginning to be seen in companies' attitudes to lifelong employment, there may be an increasing trend for workers to shape their careers independently.