The Tech giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) released its first Work Relationship Index which analyzed more than 50 aspects of society’s relationship with work.
HP’s research found that only about one-quarter (27%) of the world’s knowledge workers have a healthy relationship with work.
Across the globe, however, workers’ relationships with work vary greatly, from a low of 5% who have a healthy relationship in Japan to a high of 50% in India.
Overall, the relationship is healthier in emerging economies than in some of the more mature markets, all of which – except the US by one point – score at or below the global average of 27%.
Creating a healthier relationship with work
However, These low numbers (even the high of 50% isn’t very comforting) are a wake-up call. Such a high volume of unhealthy relationships with work is bad for employees, and bad for business.
The robust future of work the world needs is not sustainable at this rate. In response, HP analyzed more than 50 aspects of society’s relationship with work and identified six drivers that lead to a healthy relationship with work:
- Fulfillment: Purpose, meaning, and empowerment at work.
- Leadership: Empathy and emotional connection from those in charge.
- People-centricity: Decision-making with people at the heart.
- Skills: Confidence-building by tapping into the enthusiasm employees have for learning new skills.
- Tools: The right technology to drive employee engagement.
- Workspace: Flexibility and trust in where employees work, enabled by seamless transitions.
The 2023 HP Work Relationship Index: HP commissioned an online survey managed by Edelman Data & Intelligence (DxI) that fielded between June 9 – July 10, 2023, in 12 countries: the US, France, India, UK, Germany, Spain, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Canada and Indonesia. HP surveyed 15,624 respondents in total – 12,012 knowledge workers (~1,000 in each country); 3,612 IT decision makers (~300 in each country); and 1,204 business leaders (~100 in each country).
Depending on their role, some respondents qualified as both IT decision-makers and business leaders. The detailed report can be read here.
