Canada’s oil and gas workers resolute in their pursuit of happiness

Despite job losses and prolonged slump, energy sector still tops for positivity, says survey data

More than 110,000 jobs, and counting, have disappeared from Canada’s oil and gas industry.

But workers holding on to those jobs are grinning and bearing it, according to research data.

In recent months, a survey released by recruitment specialist Hays Canada reported that 28 percent of workers in the energy industry said they feel “very happy” at work, and another 57 percent said they’re “somewhat happy” in the workplace—in spite of an extended two-year oil pricing slump on the international stage.

Energy was one of nine sectors assessed as part of the Hays Canada report, and fared the best in terms of worker positivity.

“There are certainly other industries where people are less happy because they’re in the job they can get rather than the job they want,” Jim Fearon, Western Canadian vice president for Hays Canada, tells Alberta Oil. “And despite the fact that the resources sector goes through big economic cycles, most people recognize that there’s rough that goes with the smooth.

“Obviously they don’t enjoy the downside —no one’s particularly happy with the situation at the moment, particularly people that have been let go—but they do understand that’s what comes with working in the resources sector,” adds Fearon.

Overall, in spite of the economic downturn that has battered Alberta’s economy, Alberta is faring the best on the happiness index among Canada’s four largest provinces. According to Hays Canada, 22 percent of Albertans polled say they are “very happy” with their work situation, as opposed to 20 percent in B.C., 18 percent in Ontario and 15 percent in Quebec.

Fearon tells B.C. Business: “I think that if there’s a feeling of ‘I’m here because I want to be,’ then that creates more happiness.”

Other sectors included in the report included banking and finance, construction, IT and telecommunications, manufacturing, mining, property and facilities, retail, and the public sector.

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