The last year marked the highest number of strike actions by workers since 1989, raising more awareness over fair pay and workers’ happiness. With jobs having a major impact on our well-being, it is not only important for individuals to feel happy at work but also essential for employers to build a positive workplace culture where everyone’s abilities can thrive.

Interested in finding out which industry has the highest satisfaction rate, Reboot Online surveyed 2,500 professionals from 29 different industries. An ‘Overall Job Happiness’ index score per industry was then calculated based on seven factors surveyed, revealing the industries with the happiest workers!

Key findings

• Science & pharmaceuticals is the industry with the happiest workers, achieving an astonishing 91.93 in the Job Happiness Score.

• Workers in the Creative arts and design industry reported the second highest percentage of happiness, scoring 83.81 in the Job Happiness Score. This is followed by the Environment and agriculture.
• Energy and utilities ranked the last in the Overall Job Happiness Score, with a disappointing 9.5. Sales came second last and Call centre and customer service third from last.

Top 10 industries with the happiest workers

1. Science & pharmaceuticals | Job Happiness Score 91.93
We can reveal that science and pharmaceuticals tops the list as the industry with the most satisfied professionals, achieving an Overall Job Happiness Score of 91.93, based on all seven aspects surveyed. 

Of all 29 industries surveyed, people working in this sector reported the highest satisfaction in three factors: mental health benefits (80.25%), job empowerment (79.01%), and salary (79.01%). Although over 70% of respondents agree that their work culture (74.07%) and work relationships (77.78%) are positive, not everyone is happy with how their job affects people’s lives (65.43%) and the career prospects (64.20%) it offers.

2. Creative and design | Job Happiness Score 83.81
Creative and design ranked second as the industry with the happiest workers, with an Overall Job Happiness Score of 83.81. Professionals working in design are particularly happy with their work culture (73.17%), the relationships they have at work (76.83%) and how their job benefits their mental health (78.05%).

In addition, 68.29% of participants felt empowered by their job, indicating working in design means people feel more confident in themselves. However, there is still work to be done for employers in terms of the salaries (59.76%) and career prospects (57.32%) they offer.

3. Environment & Agriculture | Job Happiness Score 80.96
Environment and agriculture came in third place with a Job Happiness Score of 80.96. Although not specifically being the happiest industry, its employees’ satisfactions are fairly strong for all categories, according to our survey. 76.71% of professionals working in this industry feel positive about their career prospects. 

This satisfaction rate is the second highest with a less than 4% difference from the figure in Accountancy (80.46%).

4. Charity and Voluntary Work | Job Happiness Score 76.66
In fourth place is Charity and Voluntary Work, with an Overall Job Happiness Score of 76.66. Their professionals reported the second highest happiness rate in all three aspects: good work relationships (82.05%), positive impact on others (79.49%), and positive impact on mental health (79.49%). This indicates that charity workers are most happy with the connections they have at work and how their job affects their own and others’ lives.

However, charity workers don’t think their hard work has been valued by their employers as the satisfaction for salary and job empowerment are all below 40%!

5. Advertising and PR | Job Happiness Score 73.81

Advertising and PR ranked fifth as the industry with the most satisfied workers (73.81%). Out of the seven factors, employees are most happy about the culture in their workplace, with over 70% of participants saying “yes” to the question.

The 10 industries with the least happy workers

29. Energy and utilities | Job Happiness Score 9.5
The survey conducted by Reboot Online reveals that Energy and utilities is the industry with the worst job satisfaction from employees, with a combined happiness score of a disappointing 9.5.

Energy and utilities came last in 2 of 7 aspects, with work relationships and mental health coming third to last. The worst of these results is with regard to job empowerment, indicating only 2.44% of participants feel happy about how they are valued and encouraged by the employer as an individual.

28. Sales | Job Happiness Score 10.49

Sales ranked second to last with the happiest workers, scoring only 10.49. Of all 29 industries, they also scored second last in both positive impact on others (7.14%) and on mental health (8.57%).

27. Call centre and customer service | Job Happiness Score 11.91

Third from last place on the list is Call centre and customer service, with an Overall Job Happiness Score of 11.91. Professionals working in this field are particularly unhappy about the workplace culture, with only 4% feeling positive about it, according to the survey.

Shai Aharony, the CEO of Reboot Online commented on the importance of prioritising employees and their work life:

“It is really important to build an employee-first workplace culture as it fosters a sense of trust, positivity and opportunity for employees to take ownership of their work, voice ideas and participate in shared values.

“Instead of continually overwhelming them with work, take the time to understand the way they work and how they want to develop in their role and then adjust for it. On a weekly basis, we have implemented virtual drop-in sessions, whereby employees are free to talk to management to see what aspects of their workload can be completed at a more flexible time. Likewise, we have encouraged employees from different departments to cross-collaborate on suitable client projects to not only skill share but create a greater family environment whereby employees don’t feel isolated if they don’t know something or are struggling. A constant culture of ‘self’ and ‘team’ improvement is and always will be encouraged.

“We are using the model which requires employees to work 80% of the time for 100% of the pay in exchange for a commitment to maintaining at least 100% productivity. Consequently, Reboot implements a four-day working week for every single employee. It has been found that our four-day work week creates an employee-first culture, increases productivity and heightens happiness levels.”

*The full dataset can be found here.