A new report has found that 26 per cent of retail workers in Australia are ‘very satisfied’ with their jobs, while two per cent are ‘very dissatisfied’, and the rest fall somewhere in between.
Curtin University partnered with MWAH (Making Work Absolutely Human) to launch the report ‘Happy workers: How satisfied are Australians at work?’.
The report examines what contributes to greater satisfaction in the workplace. It found that it’s the job itself rather than the salary that is most critical to finding happiness at work. Those who report being ‘very satisfied’ with their job overall earn a lower average amount each week than those who report being ‘satisfied’: $1,182 compared with $1,267.
Other key insights are that almost a third of Australians are dissatisfied with payment and working hours; people aged over 70 are the happiest at work; and workers who are self-employed or working in a micro-business are more satisfied than those in large organisations.
“It’s unlikely that any job will deliver everything that is needed to be happy at work, but certain things can help,” MWAH CEO Rhonda Brighton-Hall said.
