Zhaopin: Chinese White-collar Workers Experiencing Anxiety and Loneliness

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May 18, 2018, 01:57 ET

BEIJING, May 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Zhaopin Limited ("Zhaopin" or the "Company"), a leading career platform in China focused on matching talent with skills and opportunities through their career lifecycle, today released 2018 Research Report on the Living Status of White-collar Workers. The report found that the majority of white-collar workers in China were experiencing anxiety and loneliness.

Based on survey of nearly 20,000 white-collar workers in China, the report presents the status of their living situation, health condition, mentality and career expectations.

Highlights of living status for which-collar workers:

About 45.1% of white-collar workers were renting apartments, and 22.2% bought their own condominiums with mortgages.
For their daily commute, 55% of white-collar workers took public transportation, 17.7% drove private cars and 10.3% rode bicycles.
Nearly 70% of white-collar workers believed they were healthy or very healthy, and 54.7% enjoyed good or very good sleep with no insomnia.
About 52.9% of white-collar workers experienced feelings of loneliness in their daily lives. Having no companion or friends were the top reasons for feeling lonely.
Anxiety has become part of the daily lives for white-collar workers. More than 90% of them felt anxiety often or occasionally. "Low salary" and "no clear career path" were the top causes for anxiety.
Nearly 70% of white-collar workers were dissatisfied with their salaries, and believed that their current salaries were below their expectations and did not match their skills.
For the next 12 months, 36.6% of white-collar workers would seek to change jobs and 17.3% hoped for a promotion with pay rise.

LIFE

About 45% of white-collar workers rent apartments

According to Zhaopin's survey, 45.1% of white-collar workers were renting apartments. The percentage was even higher in first-tier cities with 68.8% in Shenzhen and 58.6% in Beijing. Also 22.2% of white-collar workers bought their own condominiums with mortgages.

Living status of white-collar workers in 2018
Status	Percentage
Renting own apartment	18.1%
Renting apartment with friends	16.0%
Renting apartment with strangers	11.0%
Bought condo without mortgage	6.6%
Bought condo with mortgage	22.2%
Living with parents	11.8%
Living in company dorms	11.2%
Others	3.1%

About 70% of white-collar workers spent less than RMB20 for lunch on average each day, for a meal as simple as a lunch box, a bowl of noodles, or a sandwich. White-collar workers in finance and culture/media/entertainment/sports sectors normally spent more on lunch, as they had higher salaries and worked in downtown areas.

Average workday spending on lunch in 2018
Cost (RMB)	Percentage
Within 20	69.6%
21 to 30	23.0%
31 to 40	4.4%
41 to 50	1.5%
51 to 99	0.9%
100 to 199	0.2%
Over 200	0.3%

For their daily commute, 55% of white-collar workers took public transportation, while 17.7% drove private cars and 10.3% rode bicycles.

Commute of white-collar workers in 2018
Method	Percentage
Public transportation	55.0%
Taxi	4.8%
Private car	17.7%
Bicycle	10.3%
Walking	8.8%
Others	3.4%

Confident in health and enjoying good sleep

Nearly 70% of white-collar workers believed they were healthy or very healthy, and 27.5% thought that they were not in healthy condition.

Health status of white-collar workers in 2018
Status	Percentage
Very healthy	17.0%
Healthy	52.8%
Unhealthy	25.9%
Very unhealthy	1.6%
Not clear	2.6%

Reasons for being unhealthy included an irregular work/rest schedule and often staying up late, according to 29.1 percent of workers, while 28.4% believed it was caused by lack of a proper workout.

Reasons for unhealthy conditions in 2018
Reason	Percentage
Irregular work and rest and often staying up late	29.1%
Lack of a workout	28.4%
Heavy work pressure with overtime and travel	17.1%
Unbearable pressure from work and life	10.9%
Unhealthy environment	9.3%
Congenital diseases	1.3%
Others	4.0%

About 54.7% of white-collar workers enjoyed good or very good sleep without any insomnia.

Sleep quality of white-collar workers in 2018
Quality	Percentage
Good with almost no insomnia	40.6%
Very good with no insomnia	14.1%
So-so	28.7%
Bad with occasional insomnia	13.3%
Very poor with insomnia	3.3%

WORK

Feeling lonely and anxious

With the fast pace of work and life, about 52.9% of white-collar workers experienced feelings of loneliness in their daily lives.

Loneliness status of white-collar workers in 2018
Status	Percentage
Yes	52.9%
No	37.9%
Can't tell	9.3%

Having no companion or friends were the top reasons for white-collar workers to feel lonely. The environment and mainstream culture also contributed to their loneliness.

Reasons for loneliness in 2018
Reason	Percentage
Living alone in big cities	17.0%
No companion	19.2%
No friends with same values	17.6%
Could not fit into environment	15.1%
Could not fit into mainstream culture	8.0%
Not clear	17.3%
Others	5.7%

Nearly 40% of white-collar workers believed that "making money" could help them ease loneliness, which seemed to imply that their loneliness was actually caused by financial insecurities.

Ways to ease loneliness in 2018
Reason	Percentage
Companion	22.2%
Making money	39.4%
Friends	14.6%
Learning to live alone	16.7%
No way to get rid of it	5.1%
Others	2.1%

Anxiety has become part of the daily lives for white-collar workers in China. According to Zhaopin's survey, more than 90% of them felt anxiety often or occasionally.

Anxiety status of white-collar workers in 2018
Status	Percentage
Sometimes	62.4%
Often	32.5%
Not clear	0.7%
Never	4.4%

"Low salary" and "no clear career path" were the top causes for anxiety among white-collar workers. Heavy economic burdens, including supporting parents, children's education and mortgages, made them even more anxious.

Reasons for anxiety in 2018
Reason	Percentage
Low salary and could not support quality life	29.9%
Too busy with work and no leisure time	11.6%
No clear career path	27.9%
Still single	8.2%
Supporting parents	6.9%
Children's education	5.4%
Mortgages and car loans	8.2%
Others	1.9%

Nearly 70% dissatisfied with salaries

Nearly 70% of white-collar workers were dissatisfied with their salaries and believed that their current salaries were below their expectations and did not match their skills.

Attitudes towards salaries in 2018
Attitude	Percentage
Below expectation and does not match skills	66.5%
Satisfied	25.3%
Not clear	7.0%
Beyond expectation	1.3%

"Salary below expectations" was also white-collar workers' biggest source of dissatisfaction towards their jobs, according to Zhaopin's survey.

Dissatisfactions with jobs in 2018
Dissatisfaction	Percentage
Salary below expectations	32.7%
Welfare package	10.1%
Superior-subordinate relationship	3.6%
Relations with co-workers	1.6%
Promotion limits	13.9%
Uncertain prospects of companies	15.5%
Imbalance of work and life	10.7%
Not interested in current work	9.0%
Others	2.8%

As to reasons for their below-expected salaries, 40.9% of white-collar workers said their competences were not recognized by their companies. High living costs also made their salaries appeared deficient in comparison.

Reasons for below-expectation salaries in 2018
Reason	Percentage
Competence not recognized by company	40.9%
High living costs	27.6%
Not interested in current work	11.8%
Not competent	7.7%
Others	12.0%

Zhaopin found in its survey that 34.5% of white-collar workers had never received a pay raise, and another 31% got pay increases below 10% recently.

Recent pay raise for white-collar workers
Raise	Percentage
Never	34.5%
1% to 10%	31.0%
10% to 20%	18.3%
20% to 30%	8.2%
30% to 40%	3.9%
Over 40%	4.1%

For their plans for the next 12 months, 36.6% of white-collar workers would seek to change jobs and 17.3% hoped for promotion with a pay raise.

Next 12-month plan for white-collar workers
Plan	Percentage
Changing jobs	36.6%
Promoted with pay raise	17.3%
Pay raise	15.9%
Feeling lost with no plan	10.7%
Down-to-earth and working hard	8.4%
Starting own business	4.4%
Getting promoted	4.1%
Maintaining current situation	1.1%
Others	1.6%