Survey reveals what makes people feel happiest at work

With happier workers less likely to consider changing jobs, a new study has revealed the top 20 things that make people feel happy in the workplace.

And while employers can’t control everything that might negatively affect workers’ happiness at work, there are some things they can do to help.

What makes people happy at work?

The survey of 2,000 employed UK adults, commissioned by HR, payroll and benefits software provider Ciphr, found that for many people, the social relationships they have at work are often the biggest contributors to happiness.

Interestingly, pay doesn’t even feature in the top five.

Here’s the full list of things that make people happy at work:

1. Work colleagues/the people they work with (cited by 36%)
2. Seeing the results of their work (36%)
3. Being recognised for their work/the role they play at their organisation (34%)
4. Doing purposeful/meaningful work (34%)
5. They enjoy doing their job/the work they do (33%)
6. Their salary and benefits (31%)
7. Having flexible working, including remote or hybrid working, reduced or compressed hours, or flexitime (28%)
8. Having variety at work (27%)
9. Having work autonomy: some say or control over their workload, tasks and schedule (26%)
10. Collaborating with others at work / being part of a team (24%)
11. Working at home (23%)
12. The company they work for, they like its employer brand, reputation, values, and workplace culture (21%)
13. Being part of the positive impact that their company has on the community and/or environment (16%)
14. Socialising with their colleagues outside working hours (16%)
15. Helping to train or mentor other people/sharing their insights and experience (16%)
16. Feeling challenged (15%)
17. Working in an office/workplace with other people (15%)
18. Receiving training and development, including coaching or mentoring (14%)
19. Their work environment and location (13%)
20. Their manager/boss (12%)

How to boost happiness in the workplace

Commenting on the findings, Karen Lough, director of people at Ciphr, said, “Happiness is important for our health and wellbeing. It can help counter stress and burnout and help you feel more energised and engaged.

“So, when employees aren’t happy at work, it shows up in their performance. Their energy fades, as does their job satisfaction, and they are less likely to go that ‘extra mile’ to get the job done. From an HR perspective, you can spot it in engagement scores, retention risk, and turnover.”

Karen Lough outlines practical steps that employers can take to help employee happiness:

• Show consistent appreciation: Lean into simple but meaningful gestures that demonstrate genuine recognition. Make them a regular feature. Whether that’s internal shout-outs, thank you notes, an early Friday finish, or coffee vouchers, it can have a big impact.
• Create spaces for people to connect: Happiness at work is strongly linked to feeling a sense of belonging and connection. Give people opportunities to come together and feel included, through regular social events, all-hands meetings, and employee-led resource groups (ERGs).
• Develop managers: Give managers skills and tools to actually manage. It makes them feel valued and more motivated, and helps future stars to develop too. Having the right frameworks to use (such as with performance management or recognition) can reduce anxiety and improve confidence for both managers and employees.
• Ensure employees have a voice: Building an honest, two‑way relationship with employees is vital. Setting up employee networks or employee resource groups, holding focus groups, employee surveys, and sharing transparent updates (especially around difficult subjects like redundancies or restructures) shows employees that their voices matter, that they will be listened to, and that leadership isn’t hiding the hard messages.
• Bring clarity and purpose: People work better when they know where their organisation is going and how their role contributes. Communicating and translating company strategy and goals in a way that means something to employees (using the V2MoM framework, for example) gives people a sense of direction, focus and clear objectives.

To find out more about contracting, please contact Jaime on 01442 795 100 or email jaime.thorpe@dolanaccountancy.com.