What keeps employees satisfied at work?

When it comes to managing their careers and being happy at work, employees place a great deal of emphasis on their personal network and their working relationships.

According to a Randstad Canada survey on career management and personal branding, nearly half (43%) of Canadians say they would stay at a job that left them unfulfilled if they were surrounded by a great team.

Having a good working relationship with colleagues even trumped good pay and benefits when it came to evaluating what makes a job enjoyable.

To the question What makes you enjoy a job the most?, respondents identified great colleagues (52%) as the most important factor, followed by trustworthy leadership (51%), and good pay and benefits (51%). Canadians were least attracted to the idea of being in authority, with only 32% indicating it was important.

When defining career success, Canadians rank doing what they love (45%) at the peak of workplace success and place making a certain salary at the very bottom of the list; 51% respondents don’t even consider salary as a success factor.

The survey also reveals that 60% of Canadians have a pretty good idea about their career plans but are open to exploring different avenues, whereas only 20% say they have clear objectives and stick to them.

“The results seem to show that pursuing a leadership role or reaching a specific salary figure are not the main driving forces behind Canadians’ motivation at work,” says Tom Turpin, president of Randstad Canada. “Employers that want to attract and retain the best talent need to pay a lot of attention to their internal communication initiatives, team dynamics, and training and career development programs to keep their employees driven and passionate about what they do.”

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