The workplace happiness, job satisfaction and employee engagement in a global communications company

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to determine the relationships of three variables: Workplace Happiness, Job Satisfaction and Employee Engagement. The three variables were chosen due to the gaps in the literatures of Workplace Happiness and Employee Engagement, especially in the Philippine setting. Job Satisfaction was also included based on the claim that not all satisfied employees are happy or engaged. A quantitative approach was used for this study. As recommended by related studies, a descriptive correlational research design was chosen for this research. A survey instrument was administered to sixty six (66) out of one hundred (100) employees to measure the variables. An original twenty eight (28) item scale was created to measure Workplace Happiness, and reported a high reliability score of .921. The abridged Job in General Scale was chosen to measure the overall Job Satisfaction levels of the respondents, and produced a reliability score of .861. Lastly, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) was used to measure the Employee Engagement, and produced an alpha of .925. Additionally, demographic factors of age, sex, marital status and length of stay in the company, were analyzed for their relationships with each other. The instrument produced a high overall reliability score of .933 during the pilot test, which is more than acceptable compared the guideline of α ≥ 0.70. The sample population was mostly composed of young, single workers who have been with the company for not more than two years. The results of the assessment revealed a high percentage of employees with high happiness levels, high engagement levels and a modest number of moderately satisfied employees. Significant positive correlations were found between Workplace Happiness and Job Satisfaction (weak), as well as Workplace Happiness and Employee Engagement (moderately high). No significant relationship was found between Job Satisfaction and Employee Engagement, but surprisingly a significant positive (weak) relationship was found between age and Employee Engagement.