Social Climate
Where’s a great place to work? (2)
By Mahar Mangahas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:56:00 06/28/2008
MANILA, Philippines—Last week, I began to describe an ongoing study by the poll group Social Weather Stations on 21 potential country-destinations for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), based on the 2005 Survey on Work Orientations of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP). This multi-country survey tells us what scientific samples of several hundred hired workers in each setting say about their conditions.
We chose Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the United States, and 14 labor-importing nations in Europe for comparison to the Philippines. The term “overseas” in this column means the average of these countries. After having seen the amount of time worked per week, and certain deficiencies in working life, let us now take up some difficulties and sacrifices that workers say they experience. Other things equal, the countries with the fewest of such citations are the most ideal places to work.
Difficulties of the main job
The experience of various difficulties in work is often, but not always, higher in the Philippines than overseas. The ISSP survey provides us data with the percentages of hired workers who find their work (1) exhausting, (2) physically hard, (3) dangerous, and (4) stressful.
1. Always or often exhausted when coming home from work: This is felt by 48 percent of hired workers in the Philippines, or 10 points above the overseas average of 38.
The exhaustion rate is almost as high in Slovenia (47), and Israel, South Korea, Australia and France (all 45). Places with the least exhaustion are the Netherlands (17) and Flanders (26; the Belgian member of ISSP does surveys in Flanders only). Elsewhere, it ranges from 30 to 41.
2. Always or often have to do hard physical work: This is a complaint of 38 percent of hired workers in the Philippines, or 15 points above the overseas average of 23 percent.
At the high end, again, is South Korea (34); thus, other things equal, it is a place that OFWs are advised to avoid. At the low end, ranging from 15 to 19, are the Netherlands, Canada, Japan, Slovenia, and Flanders. All others range from 20 to 28.
3. Always or often work in dangerous conditions: This was cited by 25 percent of hired workers in the Philippines; it is double the overseas average of only 12 percent. In all 21 countries of the study, relatively fewer workers complain of dangerous work.
The country most cited by workers for dangerous conditions of work is Spain (21 percent). Those least cited are the Netherlands (6) United Kingdom (7), France (8), and Switzerland (9)— in other words, these four are generally the safest countries in which to work.
4. Always or often find the work stressful: On the other hand, stress on account of work is the one difficulty—among the four evaluated by the survey—that is less serious in the Philippines (33 percent) than overseas. The overseas average is 36 percent.
The countries most cited for work-related stress are Sweden (42), South Korea (44), and, above all, France (46)—in other words, these are the countries for OFWs to avoid, or at least to psychologically prepare themselves for, when it comes to work-related stress.
Those least cited for stress are New Zealand (25), Ireland (27), the Netherlands (27), Israel (29), and Switzerland (29). Flanders and Finland are both at 32. In 14 of the 21 countries, the proportion of complaints about stress is greater than in the Philippines.
Sacrifices made for employers
The ISSP Work Orientations module has a battery of three so-called “Agree-Disagree” items that are indicative of the workers’ willingness to make sacrifices for their employers. The higher is the Agree-score of Filipino workers compared to that of their nationals, the more desirable to overseas employers would OFWs be.
The ISSP findings from this battery of test statements indicate that Filipinos would be quite competitive, relative to the national workers in the 21 prospective worksites for OFWs.
1. “I am willing to work harder than I have to in order to help the firm or organization I work for succeed.” Agreement among Filipino workers is 71 percent, 15 points above the overseas average of 56 percent.
Only in four countries do work efforts appear stronger than in the Philippines—these are Ireland (73), Switzerland (75), Taiwan (76), and most of all the United States (80). Where efforts are lowest—namely in France (21), Finland (29), and Spain (35)—employers would especially appreciate OFWs.
2. “I am proud to be working for my firm or organization.” Agreeing to this statement suggests a willingness to consider personal pride in one’s employer as a substitute for higher pay or better perks. The agreement among Filipino workers is 72 percent, or above the average overseas of 63 percent.
The only countries with higher scores than the Philippines are Switzerland (80), Ireland (81), and, again at the far end, the United States (83). At the low end are Finland (47), and South Korea (48). Other countries range from 53 to 71.
3. “I would turn down another job that offered quite a bit more pay in order to stay with this organization.” Agreement in the Philippines is 34 percent, or above the overseas average of 29 percent.
The only countries higher than the Philippines are Japan (49), Switzerland (45), and Ireland (35). The country outstandingly vulnerable to worker-piracy is Sweden (11). But Spain (21), United Kingdom (22), Norway (22), New Zealand (23), and Canada (25) also have relatively few workers who would stay loyal if offered substantially more pay.
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Contact SWS: www.sws.org.ph or mahar.mangahas@sws.org.ph
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