Interest, not salary, is workers' main motivation

An interesting job and good relationships with co-workers are more motivating to employees than a high salary, research published today suggests.

And, according to the annual City & Guilds Happiness Index, bosses are falling behind their employees' expectations when it comes to flexible working.

Some 57% of 1,000 people surveyed said that a strong interest in their job had kept them with their current employer, while 56% said that they stayed because of their colleagues. Only 44% of respondents said that a high salary made them stay.

City & Guilds says its findings show that employers are out of touch, with 43% of managers offering bonuses, but only one fifth adopting 'flexible working practices', and one tenth allowing staff to work from home.

"With a clear impact on the bottom line, improving workplace happiness is rising up the business agenda and employers cannot afford to ignore it," said City & Guilds managing director Bob Coates. "Companies can no longer rely on those established reward and recognition policies that fail to resonate with employees and do little to combat stress levels in the workplace."

Lancaster University professor Cary Cooper, who worked on the index, added: "The City & Guilds Happiness Index provides a call to action for the business community to rethink its reward and recognition strategies and consider employees' needs on an individual basis."

"From now-on a flexible approach is needed if businesses are to create a happy, and by association productive, workforce."