04.12.2019

UK Employers Take Note: Brits are World’s Unhappiest Employees

Mindspace, the global boutique coworking provider, has announced the UK findings of its global work culture survey, which polled 5,000 employees across Europe and the US. On the UK side, the survey covered 1,000 employees from across the country.

In a dramatic wake-up call for UK employers, the survey revealed that around one-quarter of UK employees are unhappy in the workplace and looking to change their situations. This places the UK at the end of the line up in workplace happiness among the other countries surveyed:

Country	Overall Employee Happiness
US	93%
Netherlands	91%
Poland	83%
Romania	82%
Germany	81%
Israel	81%
UK	73%

Other key findings from the survey found that of the UK workers surveyed:

24% are unhappy in their job situation

15% feel no sense of purpose in their job
25% do not feel valued in their workplace
40% lack any workplace flexibility
12% look forward to their vacation more than anything else
23% do not identify with or feel engaged in their company
14% resent or do not want to participate in company activities

Why is the UK at the bottom of the global happiness scale? It seems that there is much room for improvement on the part of UK employers. For example, 45% of UK employers offer no workplace wellness activities whatsoever – compared only to 13% of employers in the US, which is at the top of the employee happiness scale. And 42% of UK employees lack workplace flexibility - setting their own hours and working somewhere other than the primary office. How impactful can these activities be? Consider that all companies in London surveyed offer a broad range of wellness activities – and Londoners as a whole are twice as likely to love going to work compared to other regions in the UK.

In the UK, as in other countries, the survey found that happy employees are simply better employees. The survey demonstrated that workplace flexibility is one of the keys to employee happiness, and flexible working hours or a work-from-home option are perceived as the perks with the most value.

“This survey should be an eye-opener for UK workplaces, especially given its sheer extent and depth,” noted Dan Zakai, CEO and co-founder of Mindspace. “We have discovered that employee happiness is a hugely significant factor for every UK business, with employee engagement rates double the size of those who aren’t happy at work. We believe that employee happiness in the workplace should be a focal element for businesses as happier employees mean better retention rates, greater engagement and a more collaborative work environment.”

The UK specific report also takes a deep dive into the state of British workplace happiness and analyses:

Employee happiness
Employee wellness
Regional work culture
An inspiring office environment
Workplace flexibility
Measurement of employee engagement
The gender gap
The generation gap

The global results of the survey will be available to view shortly. The full UK results of the survey – including gender, generational, and regional breakdowns, as well as key workplace parameters like wellness are available on request.

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