Auditor-general employees are happiest

Public sector financial watchdog, the auditor-general, has the happiest employees in the country, according to online recruitment agency JobCrystal.

The JobCrystal Happiness Indicator examines which South African companies have the happiest staff and which are the best places to work.

Other organisations with happy employees are Shell Oil, CSIR, Softline Pastel and Anglo Platinum. Auditing firm KPMG is rated as the best place to work in SA, with Sanlam, Momentum, Pick n Pay and PricewaterhouseCoopers also getting the thumbs up from employees.

The JobCrystal Happiness Indicator data is compiled from the company's 100 000-strong database of jobseekers. Employees are asked how happy they are in their current position (miserable, frustrated, comfortable, happy) and also how they rate their employer (the best, excellent, fair, poor, awful), when they register on JobCrystal. It focuses on candidates looking to earn R150 000 per year and more.

JobCrystal compiles the Happiness Indicator from the data it collects when candidates enter their details on the talent management portal. JobCrystal uses this and other data to make the best matches between candidates and vacancies.

The low correlation between companies where employees are the happiest and those rated the best place to work demonstrates an important take away for companies, says JobCrystal.

Kevin Laithwaite, JobCrystal MD, says even if employees buy into the company culture, vision and environment, and so rate the company as a good place to work, they also need to have their individual goals and requirements met in order to be happy.

“It's worth remembering that all these companies mentioned have a significant number of active and passive jobseekers, who have signed up on JobCrystal, among their employees,” Laithwaite says.

The first JobCrystal Happiness Indicator, released in April 2010, showed that fewer than half of South African employees are currently happy in their role.

Laithwaite says this latest data shows employees experience a huge difference in the impact of the general company environment, as opposed to the achievement of individual career ambitions on their happiness levels.

“It is clear that the companies that focus on gaining staff buy-in for company-wide goals and objectives, at the expense of meeting employees' individual career goals, are going to find it difficult to hold on to top talent. The two go hand-in-hand in terms of attracting and keeping star performers,” he says.