Employees in Germany are increasingly dissatisfied with their lives. This is the result of a survey conducted by the consulting firm Gallup and made available to the German Press Agency. Less than half (45 percent) of those surveyed feel satisfied and are optimistic about the future.
Compared to the results of the previous year, the value fell by eight percentage points. In a European comparison, Germany is in 20th place. The ranking in Europe is led by Finland with 83 percent, Denmark with 77 percent and Iceland with 76 percent.
Although the stress level in Germany has improved by one percentage point compared to the previous year, it is still in the top third of the European comparison at 41 percent. This means that German employees feel significantly more stressed than their neighbors in Austria (35 percent) and Switzerland (30 percent).
“The combination of declining life satisfaction and still above-average stress may indicate that respondents increasingly feel that they have no control over many of the factors that determine their lives,” said Marco Nink, Gallup’s research director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to the statement.
The figures for Europe also show that employees without an emotional connection to the company are significantly less satisfied and confident (34 percent) than employees with a strong emotional connection to the workplace (58 percent). “All over the world, employees want to be seen as people and not just as a resource,” said Nink.
But according to the survey, this is precisely where Europe is lacking. Compared to other regions of the world, Europe has the lowest level of high emotional employee loyalty (13 percent). The global average is 23 percent. In Germany, the figure is 15 percent, ahead of Austria (10 percent) and Switzerland (9 percent).
