March 20, 2025

Our happiness depends on kindness and connections with other people

The World Happiness Report 2025, released today to coincide with the UN’s International Day of Happiness, reveals that people are generally kinder than commonly perceived, and that social connections play a pivotal role in determining how happy we are. The report highlights a significant disparity between perceived and actual acts of kindness within communities. Global studies on the return of lost wallets indicate that actual return rates are approximately double what people anticipate. This suggests that communities are more benevolent than individuals often believe, and recognising this kindness is strongly associated with higher happiness levels. (more…)

December 18, 2024

iON Ambulance Care selects Boostworks to supercharge employee perks and happiness

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Wellbeing

Boostworks, a leading provider of employee reward and recognition, benefits delivery and wellbeing solutions, today announced that it has been selected as the benefits provider for iON Ambulance Care, trading as Tricorder Care. With over 180 dedicated professionals working across its five sites, iON ‘s goal is to significantly enhance employee engagement and retention by implementing a comprehensive benefits platform tailored to the unique needs of its frontline workforce. (more…)

January 20, 2021

Work-life balance is the key to workplace happiness

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Working lives

Research by Ezra, digital coaching provider, claims that work-life balance is the driving factor behind happiness in the UK workplace. The survey claims that a notable 78 percent of those in employment are happy in their current job. (more…)

December 4, 2020

Employee happiness and loyalty tested by furlough schemes

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

A newly commissioned survey of 1,000 people conducted by Censuswide on behalf of KnowBe4, claims that almost a third of respondents (28 percent) feel less loyal to their employer post-furlough. Of these individuals, 70 percent conceded to either not feeling supported by their employer, receiving little to no information or guidance prior to returning to work and/or did not receive regular communications from them. In fact, the actions employers take, or lack thereof, to ease the transition from furlough appears to play a significant role in employee sentiments upon their return to work. (more…)

October 30, 2020

Trust from the boss outweighs all other factors for employee happiness

by Jayne Smith • News, Working culture, Working lives

While some organisations have welcomed remote working with open arms, other employers have struggled to trust their employees to work autonomously with some even ramping up on surveillance to track exactly what their workforce is doing. This may however be problematic for organisations looking to attract and retain talent as, according to a recent report from UK-based tech-for-good developer, Culture Shift, almost all (93 percent) of Britain’s workforce say having an employer that trusts them is important for their overall happiness at work. (more…)

May 27, 2019

Workplace happiness levels plummeting

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

According to a survey of employees, most people are unhappy and dissatisfied in our jobs and almost half struggle to get out of bed in the morning to go to work. The survey by Personal Group, a provider of human resources services, claims that there has been a 20 percent drop in workplace happiness over the past three years. Today, only 41 percent of the workforce are happy most of the time at work, down from 43 percent in 2018 and 51 percent in 2017. (more…)

May 8, 2019

Workers tend to choose job happiness over pay

by George Eltringham • News, Wellbeing

Wrike has published a report From Positivity to Productivity: Exposing the Truth Behind Workplace Happiness (registration), which claims to offer new insights on what makes employees happy in a rapidly changing, digital workplace. The report sets out to challenge what it says are common myths about levels of happiness at work. The happiest employees – those that identify as being “elated” with their job – report diversity is above average in their workplace and say “doing meaningful work” is the most critical factor in their happiness, ranking even higher than compensation. (more…)

April 25, 2019

UK workplace happiness score has dropped below global average

by Marie Hillen • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

The UK now ranks tenth globally when it comes to happiness in the workplace. Austria (690), Spain (682), United States (719), France (672) and Germany (675) are all above the UK in rating workplace happiness. To date, over 10,000 people globally have taken the free Workplace Happiness Survey by Engaging Works which aims to provide practical and personalised advice to help improve wellbeing at work and to increase productivity and overall happiness within the workplace. The Workplace Happiness Survey asks 26 questions and then delivers a score out of 1000.

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March 27, 2019

The pursuit of happiness, lumpy tech, space science and some other stuff

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Underlying most of the stuff you read about the workplace is the quest for happiness. Indeed happiness has become something of a preoccupation for those pondering the issue at the apex of social and economic thinking, as epitomised by Gallup with its latest World Happiness report. As always, the Gallup report stumbles over definitions of happiness, often using the word interchangeably with wellbeing and stuffs it with other ideas without explaining how or even whether they contribute to happiness.

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March 20, 2019

Feeling appreciated and the quality of workplace both key to employee happiness

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

The quality of the workplace has a powerful effect on the levels of happiness of staff, with nearly half of respondents (49 percent) to a recent survey stating that having a great office environment is important to their happiness at work, but according to the figures, only a quarter (25 percent) say a good workplace environment is a current positive about their work. The survey from Peldon Rose also found that less than half (45 percent) of employees actually feel appreciated at work and only two-thirds (67 percent) report feeling happy. Yet the majority of workers (80 percent) who took part, believe that feeling appreciated is most important to their happiness at work – ahead of salary (58 percent) and feeling trusted (55 percent).

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January 7, 2019

UK workers rank tenth in global happiness survey

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

The UK’s workplace happiness rating comes in at tenth in a new study published by Engaging Works. Austria, The Netherlands, United States and Germany are all above the UK in rating workplace happiness. The UK’s average happiness score of 6.43 lags behind Austria’s 7.67. Engaging Works has surveyed over 10,000 employees globally with the workplace happiness survey. Its’ founder, Lord Mark Price, is calling for the Government to face up to the UK’s poor productivity levels and understand the importance of getting the UK’s workforce more engaged and happier.

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November 2, 2018

Happiness at work: Lessons from home

by Dr Tracy Brower • Comment, Facilities management, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

Thanks to technology and mobility, our work has come home with us. So it’s only fair that home should come to work, right? It would seem logical that if people sit in front of a TV on the sofa at home while they work remotely, employees would be thrilled to have a similar set up within their office. However, in the workplaces where we’ve seen companies install couches and big screen TVs, those work spaces are almost never used by employees. Those companies missed the bigger picture. Home is as much an emotional experience as a physical one.