A recent survey on the work harmony index of employees in China reveals that approximately 70 percent of employees are unhappy about their working environment and feel interpersonal relationships are not friendly enough, according to Chinanews.cn on May 15.

Around 70 percent of Chinese employees complain about their working environment, feeling that interpersonal relationships are not friendly enough and contending that the level of pressure in their place of employment is too high.

These are the findings of a survey on the work harmony index of employees conducted recently by the School of Public Administration of Renmin University of China and Sina.com and involving approximately 4,000 people being interviewed online, according to Chinanews.cn on May 15.

According to the survey results, teachers (76 percent), nurses (73.8 percent) and journalists (70.3 percent) are the top three most "unharmonious" occupations.

And the top three unharmonious working environments were identified as state-owned enterprises (71.5 percent), public institutions (69.3 percent) and private enterprises (65.4 percent).

Dr. Li Chaoping, the survey organizer with the School of Public Administration, said four factors were used to measure a harmonious working environment – relationships between an individual and their jobs; personal relations with managers, colleagues and customers; relationships between employee and employer; and the employee's own work experiences.

The survey found that 30 percent of the respondents described the relationship between them and their jobs "unharmonious", with 63.4 percent believing that their work is boring, 49.2 percent contending that they don't earn a reasonable salary, and 46.7 percent sharing the view that their employment is not secured.

The main problem on the human relationships front appears to be that employees felt there was a lack of cooperation, trust and recognition of their efforts by senior management.

In addition, 30 percent of the respondents were not satisfied with their relationships with their employers. Some complained that the company didn't pay enough attention to them and their employers were unable to provide the required resources and support.

Issues such as personal development and job satisfaction were also causes for concern.

According to Dr. Li, these problems were the natural result of social development. Although modern science and technology benefit people's daily lives, it has also quickened the pace of life and work.

During the process to adapting themselves to this new environment, many people could encounter difficulties and Dr. Li identified this as possibly one of the main reasons behind the "unharmonious" feelings.

He explained that because many small private enterprises still had to face up to simply remaining in business, they all too often ignored the training and development of employees.

He added that individuals could also become disenchanted if what they were taught in school do not conform to what they were required of in the workplace.

(China.org.cn by Wang Ke, May 16, 2006)