Survey Slight increase of employees’ working confidence and satisfaction

2014-4-1

From：Macau Daily Times

A survey shows that Macau employees are more confident and satisfied with their jobs than last year. However, people working in the gaming industry, especially croupiers, are less confident and satisfied.
The Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) released the annual Macao Employee Confidence and Satisfaction Index (MECSI) for 2014, which shows that the overall Confidence Index (CI) of local workers grew slightly, by 0.3 percent in the last 12 months, to 3.14 points; while the Satisfaction Index (SI) increased by a very slight 0.3 percent to 3.31 points. Both results are above the average 3-points performance, which is the watershed marker for the index ranged between 1 – 5 points. The higher the number given, the more satisfied/confident the employee.
According to the report, respondents are most confident about interactions with their colleagues, scoring 3.91, and are most satisfied with their contacts with their superiors or management (3.53 points). On the flip side, they are least secure about promotion opportunities (2.23 points) and least content with the impact of work upon their health (2.93 points).
The results of the survey point out that local employers need to give more support to encourage initiative in their staff. They should value contributions made by employees, provide training and promotions, care for employees’ health conditions and reduce their workload.
However, the survey singled out that the drop in career confidence and job satisfaction for casino workers is more significant than for workers in other professions. The survey interviewed 1,015 full time local employees aged 16 or above, 265 of them gaming industry workers, among whom 90 are working as croupiers. The CI and SI of casino workers recorded a 1.0 percent and 0.6 percent decrease respectively. The decreases are even greater for croupiers; the CI (2.89 points) and SI (2.94 points) both failed to reach the “average level” and dropped by 5.2 percent and 2.6 percent respectively.
The report analyses that remuneration and working stability may undergo a negative period if the gaming industry faces depression. On the other hand, whilst the industry booms, workers may have longer working hours and a larger workload, which will affect their social and family life.
“Croupiers are relatively low skilled and less educated, they are most influenced by the change of the gaming industry,” project coordinator Mr Zhu Shenyong explained.
In addition, the working environment, such as the smoke in casinos, also contributes to the drop of both indexes, according to Professor Chan Lai Kow, Director of MUST’s Institute for Sustainable Development, which is responsible for conducting the survey financed by the Macau Foundation. This is the 8th MECSI since its inception in 2007.

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