All Work No Play: 3/4 of White Collar Workers Have Sex Less than Once a Month, 40% Have No Vacation

All Work No Play: 3/4 of White Collar Workers Have Sex Less than Once a Month, 40% Have No Vacation
Jan 08, 2015 By eChinacities.com

Editor’s note: This article gives full details of the much-discussed ‘White Collar Worker Satisfaction Survey’ that came out at the end of 2014. Whilst most of the media coverage has focused on the seemingly disappointing sex lives of the participants, this article gives a fuller picture of the lives of white collar workers in China. Interestingly, high levels of job satisfaction appear to be concentrated in second and third-tier cities and the article also explores reasons why workers aren’t getting their annual leave.

China’s white collar workers are often seen as an enviable group. White collar workers have good working conditions and are able to make a decent living. However a recent survey shows that white collar workers are not entirely satisfied with their lives. On December 29, Zhilian Recruitment released their 2014 Satisfaction Index Survey for Chinese white collar workers. White collar workers on average rated their life and job satisfaction as 2.22 and 2.41 out of 5. Workers summarized their living conditions as marked by no vacations, no sports and activities, and no time to read books. The survey also showed that the majority of white collar workers have sex less than once a month. Only a quarter of white collar workers have sex more than once a week.

All Work No Play: 3/4 of White Collar Workers Have Sex Less than Once a Month, 40% Have No Vacation

2014 Job Satisfaction Ratings for White Collar Workers (rated out of 5)
2.12: Salary
2.17: Benefits
2.82: Training and Knowledge
1.91: Promotions
3.02: Interpersonal Relationships

All Work No Play: 3/4 of White Collar Workers Have Sex Less than Once a Month, 40% Have No Vacation
Photo: Sonny Abesamis

Job Satisfaction Low in Shanghai
The survey explored two different factors for white collar workers: job satisfaction and life satisfaction. The recruitment agency collected a total of 9,272 questionnaires from white collar workers. The survey shows that in Shanghai, the rating for life satisfaction for white collar workers was 2.31 out of 5. This is higher than the national average of 2.22. In Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen the ratings were 2.24, 2.14 and 2.23 respectively. In terms of job satisfaction, the ratings for white collar workers in Shanghai were 2.41. In Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen the ratings were a bit higher: 2.42, 2.52 and 2.60 respectively.

2014 Job Satisfaction Ratings for White Collar Workers By City

Ranking City Satisfaction Rating Ranking City Satisfaction Rating
1 Yantai 3.15 17 Suzhou 2.39
2 Xiamen 3.00 18 Wuhan 2.38
3 Changchun 2.77 19 Fuzhou 2.38
4 Qingdao 2.72 20 Tianjin 2.35
5 Wuxi 2.62 21 Zhengzhou 2.32
6 Shenzhen 2.60 22 Chengdu 2.32
7 Guangzhou 2.52 23 Xi’an 2.26
8 Changsha 2.49 24 Hefei 2.24
9 Hangzhou 2.45 25 Nanjing 2.24
10 Beijing 2.42 26 Shenyang 2.23
11 Chongqing 2.41 27 Nanning 2.23
12 Ningbo 2.41 28 Taiyuan 2.22
13 Jinan 2.41 29 Guiyang 2.18
14 Shanghai 2.41 30 Foshan 2.16
15 Kunming 2.41 31 Dalian 2.07
16 Shijiazhuang 2.39 32 Harbin 1.82

White collar workers in Yantai, Changchun, Fuzhou, Jinan and Changsha all reported a higher rating for life satisfaction. Shanghai is ranked as ninth in terms of life satisfaction. Beijing is ranked 15th, Shenzhen is ranked 16th and Guangzhou is ranked 21st. White collar workers seem to be generally unsatisfied with their lives outside of work in these four main cities.

In terms of job satisfaction, the results are similar. White collar workers in Yantai, Xiamen, Changchun, Qingdao and Wuxi (mainly second and third tier cities in the east) report high numbers is terms of job satisfaction. Shenzhen and Guangzhou are ranked right behind these small cities. Beijing is ranked 10th for white collar job satisfaction and Shanghai is ranked 14th.

According to experts, small cities have a developed economic environment in which there are a variety of white collar jobs and adequate space for white collar workers to develop their careers. These small cities, however, are not as competitive as larger cities and thus there is less pressure on workers. Working in a small city in general is not as intense as working in a first tier city. Small cities are also very comfortable to live in making them good environments for white collar workers. 

All Work No Play: 3/4 of White Collar Workers Have Sex Less than Once a Month, 40% Have No Vacation

The Main Factors that Affected Promotions for White Collar Workers in 2014
35.1%: Controlled by the Company
18.6%: Personal Skills and Strengths
16.3%: Esteemed by Colleagues and Boss
24.9%: Other

All Work No Play: 3/4 of White Collar Workers Have Sex Less than Once a Month, 40% Have No Vacation

2014 Ratings for Life Satisfaction for White Collar Workers
2.51: Physical Health
1.64: Sex Life
2.10: Reading
2.10: Vacation
2.58: Time with Family
2.40: Mental Health

Half of White Collar Workers Do Not Have an Active Lifestyle
The survey showed that in 2014, Chinese white collar workers were most unsatisfied by their sex life. White collar workers on average rated their sex life as 1.64 out of 5. This is much lower than scores for other categories. White collar workers rated their satisfaction with reading as 2.10 and vacation satisfaction as 2.10. Ratings were a bit higher in terms of satisfaction with mental health and physical health.

More than half of Chinese white collar workers reported that they had sex less than once a month. 46.1 percent of these workers were single. Only about a quarter of Chinese white collar workers wrote that they had sex at least once a week.

White collar workers are generally satisfied with the status of their own health. Workers rated this as 2.51. However, white collar workers do not lead very active lifestyles and exercise an average of 1.5 hours of week. Almost half of workers do not do any sports (49.9%).

Chinese white collar workers were not satisfied by the amount that they read in 2014 and rated it as 2.10. 34.7 percent of respondents reported that they almost never read.  30 percent said that they only read 1-3 hours a week and 11.8 percent wrote that they read about 3 hours a week. Only a quarter of white collar workers said that they read more than three hours a week.

2014 Life Satisfaction Ratings for White Collar Workers By City 

Ranking City Satisfaction Rating Ranking City Satisfaction Rating
1 Yantai 2.80 17 Suzhou 2.22
2 Changchun 2.69 18 Xiamen 2.21
3 Fuzhou 2.55 19 Zhengzhou 2.17
4 Jinan 2.53 20 Guiyang 2.15
5 Changsha 2.49 21 Guangzhou  2.14
6 Wuxi 2.45 22 Taiyuan 2.13
7 Shijiazhuang 2.42 23 Qingdao 2.10
8 Xi’an 2.40 24 Foshan 2.08
9 Shanghai 2.31 25 Shenyang 2.06
10 Chengdu 2.30 26 Tianjin 2.01
11 Chongqing 2.27 27 Hangzhou 1.97
12 Hefei 2.26 28 Kunming 1.92
13 Ningbo 2.25 29 Nanjing 1.89
14 Wuhan  2.24 30 Nanning 1.88
15 Beijing 2.24 31 Dalian 1.82
16 Shenzhen 2.23 32 Harbin 1.76

No Time Off: 40% of White Collar Workers Had No Vacation in 2014
Chinese white collar workers were not satisfied with their vacation time in 2014 and rated it as only 2.10. 40 percent of respondents wrote that they had no annual leave or vacation. 22.4 percent of white collar workers have less than five days of vacation per year. 15.8 percent wrote that they had 5 to 10 vacation days in 2014, whilst less than a quarter of white collar workers had more than 10 days of vacation time.

This lack of vacation time happens because many companies have “hidden rules,” regarding annual leave saying that employees can only take a vacation if the company is not busy. On the other hand, many white collar workers actively choose to sacrifice their vacation time in order to work more. Another explanation is the fact that companies often let employees defer vacation days and use them later if they are not used up by the end of the year.

Source: news.163.com

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Keywords: White Collar workers China satisfaction survey

4 Comments

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Irfan100

Oh ho

Jan 19, 2015 21:21 Report Abuse

jetfire9000

The "International relationships" is a mistaken translation, and should be changed to "interpersonal relationships."

Jan 12, 2015 13:55 Report Abuse

jetfire9000

Another mistake: the Benefits and Salary should also be swapped. On the graph, Benefits corresponds to 2.17: and Salary corresponds to 2.17.

Jan 12, 2015 14:01 Report Abuse

Guest2650392

That's what you get when you put 1.4 billion population, a hell PM2.5, next to nil trust between people all on the same plate.

Jan 06, 2015 19:03 Report Abuse