Based on the survey data of 2022-2023 working conditions research, this report presents an analysis of the general situation and group differences of organizational working conditions in China, as well as specific situations related to working time, working reward, workplace and working participation. It has been found that:

    First, organizational working conditions in China are generally good. According to the survey, the working condition index in China in 2022-2023 is 74.12, far higher than the median value (50). The working condition index shows a left skewed distribution with more samples in the higher score side, mainly between 62 and 82, and about 2% of laborers reach the full mark in their working conditions. The mean values of the 4 indicators of working conditions (working time, working reward, workplace and working participation) are all at high levels, exceeding the passing level of 60. Specifically, the levels of working time and workplace are generally higher as they are close to or higher than 80; those of working reward and working participation are relatively lower but still close to 70. 

    Second, working conditions across different groups vary, and educational level plays the largest effect on the differences in working conditions. Our research of differences in working conditions across different groups of laborers reveals that generally, working conditions levels for men are higher than those for women; the working conditions index of employees aged between 30 and 39 are higher; working conditions levels of better educated employees are much higher than those of less educated ones; working conditions levels of employees with non-agricultural or residential household registration are slightly higher than those of the group with the agricultural household registration; and working condition indexes of employees from central, southern and eastern regions are relatively higher than other regions.

    Third, part of the laborers suffer from low working time quality. 29.18% of employees have a weekly working time longer than 53 hours. Employees from wholesale and retail, accommodation and catering, manufacturing and other industries have the highest percentage of overtime work, which is about 50%. Excessive overtime work may cause problems like job burnout and work-family conflict. In times of working time point, 7.44% of employees frequently work at night, and 24.59% of employees have a higher percentage of the population often working on weekends. Specifically, the working time point arrangement for health professionals, security and fire safety workers and accommodation and catering servers involve the most prominent social problems, and the non-social working time may cause employees to develop an “isolated island” problem for their life. In terms of working time autonomy, most employees have a certain level of control over their working time. Comparatively, ordinary employees have a lower autonomy in working time than middle-level managers.

    Fourth, laborers generally have good working rewards, but to some extent, they also face problems like insufficient security, income inequality and dissatisfaction. In terms of basic security, about 82.1% of employees have access to “medical insurance” but those enjoying housing provident funds only account for 54.78%. Specifically, the percentage of self-employed business owners and employees of private companies accessing the “Five Social Insurances and Housing Fund” is significantly lower than those of other types of organizations. With respect to income equity and satisfaction, more than 80% of employees hold a neutral or positive attitude towards their current incomes, with a small fraction of employees feeling unfair and dissatisfied with their current incomes. A further analysis shows that people’s comments on their incomes are significantly subject to the effect of income levels of those around them.

    Fifth, laborers generally have a high level of workplace quality. Firstly, 90% of laborers’ workplaces are free of hazardous substances. Comparatively, mining, health and social work industries involve larger health risks caused by hazardous substances. Secondly, nearly or more than 50% of laborers have access to welfare facilities like canteens, recreational areas and fitting rooms. Specifically, national authorities, state-owned enterprises and public institutions have a larger percentage of provision of welfare facilities. Thirdly, the majority of employees have good social environments in their working organizations and more than half of employees are able to actively perceive organizational support in various aspects, including care, help, understanding and respect for employees. 80% of employees can actively perceive good interpersonal relations with their colleagues, including friendliness, respect and harmony. Such a good organizational social environment is helpful for improving employees’ work performance, the sense of trust in leaders and colleagues and their organizational identification and belongingness.

    Sixth, in the area of working participation, relatively sophisticated communication channels have been established but laborers’ participation level in specific matters is relatively low. In terms of communication channel establishment, organizations of nearly or more than 70% of employees have set up complaint boxes, team or department meetings, bulletin boards and communication software like DingTalk. Specifically, national authorities, public institutions and state-owned enterprises show high levels of communication channel establishment across the 4 types, in contrast to the low levels across the 4 types of communication channels for self-employed business owners. For decision-making participation, over 60% of employees participate in decision-making on issues related to individuals and work tasks (including assignment of work tasks and post adjustment), but the percentage of employees participating in the decision-making of key issues at the organizational level (promulgation of rules and regulations and cadre selection) and wage adjustment is lower than 50%. In addition, compared with middle-level managers, the percentage of ordinary employees participating in organizational and work-related decision-making is significantly lower.

    To conclude, the survey results of the 2022-2023 China working conditions research show relatively positive organizational working conditions for Chinese laborers, but not without areas for improvement. This research argues that organizational working conditions are an entirety composed of working time, working reward, workplace and working participation. Truly high-quality organizational working conditions cannot be fulfilled through governance measures that fail to grasp the whole picture or only focus on one point. Only through accurate implementation of policies and innovative governance highlighting comprehensive and universal interconnectedness can accomplishments be made in organizational working conditions governance and greater social prosperity be achieved. In the future, both the state and organizations should put in efforts to provide and create more comprehensive and high-quality working conditions for laborers from the following four aspects: improving employees’ working time quality, ensuring fair and reasonable labor reward, creating safe and welcoming workplaces and encouraging and guiding employees to actively participate in work-related decision-making.