A recent survey has found construction and facilities services employees are the happiest among all industries.
The TINYpulse 2015 Best Industry Ranking report collected more than 30,000 anonymous employee responses from over 500 companies during 2014.
The survey found that the main drivers for the construction industry's high ranking were satisfaction with colleagues and the nature of the job and projects.
Of the happiest employees across all industries, 34 per cent said their workplace satisfaction was due to their peers and colleagues.
This was particularly true of the construction industry, as reflected in the comments of Jay Walter, general manager of Australian home-building company JWH Group. "This is an industry that has many walks of life with people working in an office to people out on site," he says.
"One thing that unites everybody at the end of the day is kicking back for a little bit with a few beers and talking stuff out - the good and the bad.
"If people have an issue, they will come see a manager during office hours, but sometimes the best environment is when people can relax a bit and just have a drink alongside a manager," he adds.
Another reason for job satisfaction in the industry was the high level of responsibility placed on employees. According to the survey, nearly 20 per cent of happy employees said their happiness stemmed from being energised by their everyday responsibilities.
Meanwhile, the opposite was true when it came to the top three drivers of workplace dissatisfaction, which were listed as "having unsupportive managers, not having the tools for success, and lacking opportunities for professional growth".
The survey also found that manufacturing ranked last out of the 12 industries ranked, just ahead of working for the government or for an NGO or charity.
The responses were influenced by the fact that the construction industry last year contributed 50 per cent more to the United States' gross domestic product than manufacturing, meaning that construction employees enjoyed far higher wage increases.
"Seeing your business grow and reaping the fruits of that growth through salary increases will surely drive happiness," the survey concludes.
Graeme Nicolson
