Singapore has the unhappiest of workforces according to a survey by job seeker site Jobstreet.com of six Southeast Asian countries plus regional rival financial centre Hong Kong.

Singaporeans say that bad leadership is the biggest factor behind their lack of job satisfaction, a sentiment echoed by Malaysians, Thais and Hongkongers, followed by a lack of career development opportunities and training.

Only in the Philippines was a poor salary the cause of the most unhappiness among workers.

What makes workers the most happy, above a good relationship with co-workers, the reputation of the company, corporate values or even salary is the location of the office, the study found. Above all, workers want to work at a place that is convenient to them, it seems.

In a ranking of the happiest professions in Singapore, media ranked seventh, just below admin.

Marketing ranked 16th in a table topped by the sciences.

It seems that the more senior you get in a job in Singapore, the less happy you’ll be.

Fresh graduates with three to five years experiences in the workplace were the happiness of workers, while the c-suite were the most miserable.

Singapore also ranks as the least optimistic of workforces, followed by Hong Kong with faith in job prospects expected to drop by 3% and 5% respectively over the next six months.

Chook Yuh Yng, country manager of Jobstreet.com Singapore commented on the importance of better management to retain staff: “Leaders who place facilitating employee development as a focus will tend to enjoy better employee satisfaction. Learning can be facilitated all the time and not just in the classroom. Dissatisfaction with employee development efforts usually stem from employees feeling that they are not getting much of what they value highly, such as the ability to grow in their jobs.”