Two in Ten Indian Employees Say Workplace Not Psychologically Safe: Ipsos Poll

Companies in India have more work to do to improve employee satisfaction because two in ten employees say their workplace is not psychologically safe and healthy environment to work in, according to a new survey conducted by leading global research company Ipsos.

Whether it is due to stress, interpersonal conflict, frustration, lack of feedback or promotion, 17 percent of employees in India said they are not happy with the psychological aspects of their work environment.

"Employers need to pay attention to their employees' mental health and not just their physical health as Two in 10 is still a fairly large proportion of disgruntled employees," said Biswarup Banerjee, Head of Marketing Communication, Ipsos in India.

However, a majority (57%) of Indian Employees believe their current workplace is a psychologically safe and healthy environment to work in, while more than one quarter (28%) place themselves in the middle of their assessment.

"It is interesting to note that older workers over 50 with a good household income who have completed a higher level of education were the most satisfied with the psychological aspects of their workplace. Conversely, those with low household income and having low or medium education are most dissatisfied," Banerjee added.

Nearly half, 47 percent, of the total of 14,618 workers polled in 24 countries agreed that their workplace was 'a psychologically safe and healthy environment to work in' and 26 percent hovered on the fence and weren't sure.

Three in ten (27%) global employees gave their workplaces the lowest marks for not being psychologically safe and healthy with those workers from Argentina (44%), Mexico (43%), Hungary (42%) and Spain (38%) reflecting the strongest disagreement followed by Russia (36%), Poland (35%) and France (32%).

Although many North Americans have fewer holidays than Europeans and may work longer hours and enjoy fewer social services, Americans and Canadians had the highest marks for positively assessing the mental health of their workplace, followed by workers in India, Australia, Great Britain and South Africa.

Banerjee suggested that the improving economies in India, China, Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa could have played a part in the positive assessment among employees.

Ipsos polled workers in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Britain, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States.

Ipsos surveyed a total of 14,618 employees in 24 countries to rate on a scale of 1 to 10, (where 1 means strongly disagree and 10 means strongly agree) how strongly they agree or disagree with the following statement: "Overall, my current workplace is a psychologically safe and healthy environment to work in.' The top group of employees were those who scored at least 7 out of 10, the second group was in the middle range (rate of 5 or 6 out of 10) and the lowest or most likely to "disagree' group rated their workplace as a 1, 2, 3 or 4 out of 10.