Honest colleagues important for pleasure at work

Enjoying your work and a good atmosphere are the most important factors for a job without too much stress. And a good atmosphere can depend a great deal on your colleagues. Honesty, keeping promises and willingness to help are the hallmarks of a great colleague. Deviousness, cutting corners and not doing one’s job properly are the most irritating characteristics in a colleague. These are the findings of the 2019 Satisfaction at Work survey conducted by online pension provider BeFrank as part of the Week of Stress at Work.

Dutch people give an average score of 7.5 for their satisfaction at work. For 93 per cent of them, job satisfaction means less stress. Around 90 per cent of the respondents said that a good relationship with colleagues is essential for enjoying their work. Fortunately, the vast majority of those in work also said that their relationships at work were generally very good. Nearly 90 per cent said that they were satisfied in this respect.

Plenty of job satisfaction in the Netherlands
Many people therefore are very happy with their jobs. On average, we assess our satisfaction at work with a score of 7.5. Around 60 per cent of Dutch people at work actually gave a score of 8 or higher for their job satisfaction. Only 6.5 per cent of the respondents said they did not experience adequate job satisfaction. There were, however, differences between people with their own business and employees in this regard. More than three-quarters of people with their own business, with or without employees, gave a score of 8 for their satisfaction at work. Among employees on the shop floor, this percentage remains stable at around 57 per cent. Another notable finding was the high level of job satisfaction among people in senior management, with a percentage of 82 per cent.

Stress is a factor
Although most people are very satisfied with their work, we do experience plenty of stress. Nearly half of the people work in a stressful environment. Almost 40 per cent said that there is a substantial risk of burn-out. “This makes carefully monitoring your personal work-life balance all the more important. Around 10 per cent of the respondents in our survey said that they were a long way away from finding a good balance. That is a cause for concern,” says Jan Hein Rhebergen, Commercial Director at BeFrank.

BeFrank: work on improving job satisfaction
BeFrank is thus calling on employers to devote attention to their employees’ job satisfaction. “We are living longer and the retirement age is rising. Employers have a duty to ensure that people are still fit when they retire. If people are happy, they work better and they take sick leave less often. The survey shows that people experiencing stress on the shop floor would welcome help. This can be achieved with appropriate attention, through talking to them or reassigning some of their tasks.”

BeFrank devotes much energy to the creation of a pleasant working environment. “We see job satisfaction as a critical success factor. We reflect this in activities such as doing sports together, organising excursions and creating space for relaxation. We also have a very open culture and we encourage our people to take initiatives, also in areas not directly associated with their job. This helps create a challenging atmosphere. And we regularly do what we call an Energizer: 15 minutes of fun to get away from work for a while. I can recommend this to everyone.”

About the survey
On the instructions of BeFrank, Panelwizard carried out a survey of almost 1,100 Dutch working people aged 25 years or more at the end of October 2019.

About BeFrank
BeFrank has been active in the collective pension market since 2011 and is the first premium pension institution (PPI) in the Netherlands. BeFrank offers an online pension, clear communications and innovative services. BeFrank is part of the NN Group.

For more information contact Isabelle van Ast. E-mail: pers@befrank.nl, Tel: +31 (0)20 5621118.