Swiss employees more dissatisfied but few want to change jobs

Not even one in ten people in Switzerland is emotionally attached to their employer. Keystone

Employees in Switzerland are increasingly dissatisfied. There is also often a lack of emotional attachment to their employer, but only a few want to change jobs.

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At 54%, only around half of employees currently feel satisfied and confident – five percentage points less than in the last survey.

This is the result of a recent study conducted by the consulting firm Gallup on Wednesday. Almost 130,000 employees in 145 countries worldwide were surveyed for the global Gallup report, with around 1,000 people in Switzerland.

Furthermore, not even one in ten people in Switzerland is emotionally attached to their employer. This puts Switzerland in one of the last places in Europe and means it is wasting potential. At 81%, the majority of people are “working to rule”, and 10% have even already resigned internally.

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At the same time, the willingness of the Swiss to change jobs is low. Only one in five is looking for a new job, although 48% are of the opinion that now is a good time to find a new position.

“The vast majority of employees in Switzerland are satisfied with their standard of living, but unlike employees in Germany or Austria, they do not perceive a boom in the labour market,” says Marco Nink, Director of Research & Analytics EMEA at Gallup, trying to explain the relatively low willingness to change jobs.

European comparison

In a European comparison, the Swiss are still slightly more satisfied with their situation than the European average (47%) or the DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) region in particular (44%). However, as in the previous year, the Scandinavian countries are right at the top. For example Finland is in first place, where 73% of employees are satisfied. This is followed by Denmark (77%), Iceland (76%), the Netherlands (71%) and Sweden (70%).

In neighbouring countries, however, the picture is somewhat bleaker than in Switzerland. In Germany in particular, satisfaction has fallen significantly by eight percentage points to 45% and employees in Austria (-six percentage points to 48%) are also less satisfied.

And at least the stress level in Switzerland is significantly lower, both in a European comparison and in a duel with its direct neighbours. At just 30%, far fewer employees said they were stressed than in Europe (37%), Germany (41%) or Austria (35%).

“The data suggests that high stress levels are well balanced in companies,” says Nink. Less stress also means less irritation and conflict in the workplace, he said.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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