Relationships, leadership, pay most important to enjoyable job

Being in authority least attractive factor: Survey

Nearly one-half of Canadians (43 per cent) would stay at a job that left them unfulfilled if they were surrounded by a great team, according to a Randstad Canada survey.

Having a good working relationship with colleagues even trumped good pay and benefits when it came to evaluating what makes a job enjoyable, found the survey of more than 500 respondents.

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

When defining career success, Canadians rank doing what they love (45 per cent) at the peak of workplace success while “making a certain salary” is at the bottom of the list — 51 per cent don't even consider salary as a success factor.

And while 60 per cent of Canadians have a pretty good idea about their career plans, but are open to exploring different avenues, 20 per cent said they have clear objectives and stick to them.

The results say a lot about the motivations and aspirations of today's jobseekers and employees, said Tom Turpin, president of Randstad Canada.

"Today's Canadian workers are very connected, informed, mobile and flexible,” he said. “Pursuing a leadership role or reaching a specific salary figure are not the main driving forces behind Canadians' motivation at work. Employers who 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.''

Highlights from the survey:

•28 per cent of respondents are inspired by innovative thinkers, and only eight per cent are inspired by well-known, corporate CEOs.

•When it comes to marketing themselves professionally, the majority of respondents (64 per cent) say they always or almost always rely on regular contacts with friends and colleagues, and 46 per cent said they never or almost never use networking and events.

•42 per cent respondents said they don't use social media for professional purposes, only for personal purposes.

•Respondents think that experience has a greater impact (39 per cent) than education (13 per cent) on their short- and long-term career prospects.

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