Employment: Nine out of 10 Irish workers are satisfied with their jobs and most would continue to work even if they didn't need the money, according to a new survey.
Preliminary results of the poll, to be outlined at a conference today, point to an extraordinary level of job satisfaction among the Irish workforce.
Carried out by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), the survey found that 86 per cent of employees find their work interesting, 90 per cent are satisfied with their physical working conditions and 70 per cent are happy with their wages.
It also found, however, that employers are failing to capitalise on such high levels of staff enthusiasm.
Many employees also reported feeling increased levels of stress and, despite the high levels of job satisfaction, four out of 10 said they came home from work exhausted.
The survey, to be published in full next month, was commissioned by the National Centre for Partnership and Performance (NCPP), a State body set up two years ago to promote partnership in the workplace.
The findings are contained in a draft report based on an analysis of 5,198 countrywide questionnaires. Fieldwork was conducted between June and early September.
The sector that topped the list for job satisfaction was education, which also displayed the highest organisational commitment by employees.
Bottom of the list was the hospitality industry, both for job satisfaction and organisational commitment.
Professional employees were largely the most content, with 96 per cent of respondents who had third-level education claiming they were satisfied with their jobs.
Very high satisfaction levels were not confined to any particular sector.
Some 87 per cent of the total respondents said they were satisfied with their hours of work, while 68 per cent said they would continue to work even if they had enough money to live as comfortably as they wanted for the rest of their lives.
Nearly nine in 10 said they were proud of the organisations they worked for.
The job satisfaction findings were similar for workers in both the public and private sectors. Despite such positive responses, respondents said they believe they are working harder than ever these days.
One in four said they were under more pressure at work than was the case two years ago, while 95 per cent said they had been given more responsibility in the same period.
But far from complaining about this, three-quarters of those surveyed said they would take on even more responsibility at work.
"It seems that Irish employees in general are working hard and are happy to work hard," said the NCPP in a statement accompanying the survey results.
It added, however, that the survey was "not all good news".
Half of the respondents said they found their jobs stressful, while one in three said they were too tired to enjoy home life after work, a finding the NCPP described as "shocking".
Half of employees also said they put in extra hours to get their work done.
A key finding was that employers may not be doing all they can to maximise workers' willingness to help improve efficiency and competitiveness.
Nearly all of those surveyed - 95 per cent - said they got on well with their managers, while a similar number said they felt respected by their managers.
The findings will be outlined at the two-day Forum on the Workplace of the Future, organised by the NCPP, which opens at Dublin Castle today.