When considering employment and the workforce, it’s important to delve into the employees’ inner mindset – to become aware of the state these employees are in, and how they are doing in today’s employment landscape.

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In a previous post, I shared the benefits of positive emotions in the workplace. These numbers explain why this is especially important in Singapore.

“Under-Happy” At Work

• In a survey by talent management agency Lumesse, Singapore ranked last in workplace happiness out of 14 countries in 2011. More specifically, people in Singapore were found to least enjoy going to work, were the least loyal, and had the least supportive workplaces.

• In a 2014 survey by the Singapore Human Resource Institute and Align Group, Singaporeans were found to be under-happy at work, scoring 59/100.

• In findings released by LinkedIn in 2011, Singapore ranked second in a survey of 16 countries for a number of workplace gripes.

• In 2014, a Straits Times check with three psychiatrists found that up to 90 percent of their patients were grappling with mental health issues caused by stress from work. Gleneagles psychiatrist Dr Lim Boon Leng said that it could worsen to become full-blown depressive or anxiety disorders, with symptoms such as suicidal thoughts.

Inner Resignation

• As part of an international workplace study, recruitment firm Robert Half surveyed 100 chief financial officers and finance directors in Singapore – and found that more than 50 percent of local companies have had staff who are mentally absent, though they are physically present.

Job Hopping

• Through another survey, Robert Half also found that finance and accounting employees in Singapore are the most chronic job-hoppers in the world.

Working Outside Working Hours

• Robert Half International found through their workplace survey in 2011 that 69 percent of Singapore professionals tune into work when they are outside office hours, pointing at potential work-life balance problems.

Not Clearing Annual Leave

• Through a global web poll, Robert Walters found that 67% of the Singapore-based professionals polled said that they do not clear all their annual leave.

Insufficient Sleep

• Singapore has come out as one of top sleep-deprived cities in the world. According to Regus, one-third of workers in Singapore are sleep deprived. This was higher than the global average. Singapore respondents said that they either wake up early or sleep too late to fulfil work commitments.

I trust this costs us in terms of not only business outcomes such as performance and service quality, but also family and other relationship problems, our health, unhealthy addictions and more. This is a social problem.

Yet it is not all gloom and doom. There are positive deviants in Singapore; organisations which break the norm and stand out as positive examples. I have started profiling them.

What do you think the situation is like in your organisation? What is your way of knowing what’s true for your employees? In my next post, I will be sharing about a tool that can be used to measure happiness at work.

 Visit the JoyWorks page to find out more about Vadivu’s work.