Global Survey Says: French And American Workers Are Two Peas In A Pod; Germans Are Happy And Italians And Greeks Give Themselves Low Marks For Productivity

PROVO, Utah, March 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Qualtrics, the world's leading insight platform, today released some surprising—and some not so surprising—findings from its 2016 Global Attitudes Toward Work Report, which magnifies differences among workforces around the world and also presents some striking commonalities. Some countries are clear frontrunners in productivity and work/life balance, while others are stragglers as regards issues like social media use at work, punctuality and motivation. The survey questions explored motivation, management, attire, job hunting and more.

Qualtrics gathered and analyzed responses from approximately 6,250 respondents in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the U.K. and the U.S. Respondents were asked to answer questions about themselves and about the country they live and work in. 

"Looking at attitudes toward work is a valuable way to look at a country," says Ryan Smith, Qualtrics co-founder and CEO. "A country's priorities, its confidence and its collective mindset can give marketers and others clues about how best to approach it. Interestingly enough, this survey showed us that people in the U.S. and France seem happiest and most satisfied with their professional lives, while the Germans, Polish and Dutch rate themselves as the most productive."

In looking at motivation to work, Qualtrics found widely varying responses. Though all countries surveyed said they primarily work to support themselves and their families financially, other top motivational factors include enjoyment (which came in second for most countries); receiving healthcare benefits (U.S.); feeling like productive members of society (The Netherlands); saving for retirement (Spain); and being with other people (Sweden).

Responses from French and American people were strikingly similar in multiple categories. Both countries report the greatest satisfaction with their work/life balance (68 percent of the French sample and 67.5 percent of the U.S. sample). And both, along with Germany, also report the greatest overall job satisfaction, with just over 64 percent of respondents in these three countries stating that they are "extremely satisfied" or "moderately satisfied" with their jobs.

Take a tour of the world's attitudes toward work, with these topline findings from the 2016 Global Attitudes Toward Work Report by Qualtrics:

• In all countries people turn to friends first when looking for a new job—over job sites, family, a former employer or Facebook.
• The U.S. has the strongest case of the 'Lake Wobegon Effect' among the 14-country comparison, with American respondents estimating their own personal productivity to be a whopping 11 percentage points higher than their estimate of the average American worker's productivity.
• Greece score lowest for work/life balance; Greeks also score themselves low for productivity in terms of number of hours worked, though Italians rank themselves the least productive. It's likely no coincidence that Greeks and Italians also report they spend the most time on personal social media use at work each day.
• Germans, meanwhile, report the highest levels of personal productivity, and they, along with the Swedish, place the most importance on punctuality, proving that the early bird really does get the worm.
• The French prioritize "dressing formally at work" far more than any other country. Over 55 percent feel it is "extremely" or "very important" to dress to the nines, while the Swedish and Greeks feel the least compelled to don formal wear at work.
• The Polish report the lowest levels of job satisfaction, with fewer than 43 percent of respondents stating that they are "extremely" or "moderately" satisfied.
• Most people in all countries (except the Netherlands) find working for a large established company most appealing. Americans, at 38 percent, feel the preference most strongly, while the French demonstrate the strongest penchant for entrepreneurialism, with 16 percent most likely to report that working at a start-up is most appealing.

About Qualtrics
Qualtrics is a rapidly growing software-as-a-service company and the provider of the world's leading enterprise insight platform. More than 8,500 enterprises worldwide, including half of the Fortune 100 and 99 of the top 100 business schools rely on Qualtrics technology. Our solutions make it fast and easy to capture customer, employee and market insights in one place. These insights help our clients make informed, data-driven business decisions. Global enterprises, academic institutions and government agencies use Qualtrics to collect, analyze and act on voice of the customer, customer satisfaction, employee engagement, 360-degree reviews, brand, market, product concept and employee feedback. To learn more, and for a free account, please visit qualtrics.com.

Contact:
Mike Maughan, Qualtrics
602-316-5607
[email protected]
or
Lesley Sillaman, Havas PR 
202-491-4055
[email protected]

SOURCE Qualtrics

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