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Job satisfaction statistics every manager needs to know in 2023

With the average cost of hiring a new employee around $4,129, increasing job retention should be a huge priority for every organization. How to do this? The latest job satisfaction statistics prove it’s as simple (or complicated) as increasing employee satisfaction. 

A quick definition of job satisfaction:

Job satisfaction relates to the level of contentment an employee feels within their employment. This covers their satisfaction with their duties, team relationships, management, organizational policies, and how their job fulfills personal needs and values.

Scheduling work team building sessions or virtual team building activities alone won’t be enough; it’s about shaping your entire employee experience. 

Top job satisfaction statistics for quick reference

Need to pull a job satisfaction stat out of your back pocket? Here are our key findings:

  • Employees are 13% more productive when they’re happy.
  • 60% of people report being detached at work.
  • 19% of employees define their work experience as ‘miserable’.
  • 48% would quit a job if it prevented them from enjoying their life.
  • 41% of employees consider their organization’s career advancement opportunities a very important factor in their job satisfaction.

Saskia Crawley

Remote worker & content writer

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15-30 min

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Share fun facts and bond with a team quiz

Have your participants choose from a list of questions they’d like their coworkers to answer about them, before watching as they guess the right answer.

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15-30 min

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Run a guided recognition activity

Have your participants choose from a list of questions they’d like their coworkers to answer about them, before watching as they guess the right answer.

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1-2h

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Organize a virtual cooking class

Hire a professional chef to help your team cook a delicious lunch or dinner. May be difficult for co-workers with families. To find providers and get tips, read our blog about virtual cooking classes.

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With the average cost of hiring a new employee around $4,129, increasing job retention should be a huge priority for every organization. How to do this? The latest job satisfaction statistics prove it’s as simple (or complicated) as increasing employee satisfaction. 

A quick definition of job satisfaction:

Job satisfaction relates to the level of contentment an employee feels within their employment. This covers their satisfaction with their duties, team relationships, management, organizational policies, and how their job fulfills personal needs and values.

Scheduling work team building sessions or virtual team building activities alone won’t be enough; it’s about shaping your entire employee experience. 

Top job satisfaction statistics for quick reference

Need to pull a job satisfaction stat out of your back pocket? Here are our key findings:

  • Employees are 13% more productive when they’re happy.
  • 60% of people report being detached at work.
  • 19% of employees define their work experience as ‘miserable’.
  • 48% would quit a job if it prevented them from enjoying their life.
  • 41% of employees consider their organization’s career advancement opportunities a very important factor in their job satisfaction.

Collaboration & Creativity Activity

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Get creative in a relaxed team environment. Take turns drawing and guessing scenes, then watch how an initial idea took on a life of its own.

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How employee happiness has evolved over the last 5 years

A study by TrackingHappiness revealed that 27% of a person’s life happiness could be explained by their happiness at work. The correlation did not fluctuate significantly between age and gender respondents. That’s a significant portion of your life’s contentment depending on how satisfied you are with your job.


What percentage of employees are happy at work?

Given the impact of job satisfaction on an employee’s overall life happiness, it’s shocking to discover that 60% of people report being detached at work. With 19% defining their experience as ‘miserable’. 

That’s 60% of people having their overall life quality impacted by dissatisfaction in their job.

In fact, only 33% of employees consider themselves to be thriving in their overall well-being. While 44% of employees say they experience stress a lot of the time at work. 

With all this in mind, it should be no surprise that  31% of employees have “quiet quit” in 2022. Meaning they’ve disengaged from their roles and are only doing the bare minimum required.

When it comes to employee happiness, workers are 13% more productive when they’re happy. So, it’s clear overall employee happiness should be a focus for all managers. 

Job satisfaction statistics of the last few years: 2019-2023

Perhaps surprisingly, despite shortcomings in many areas, job satisfaction has grown steadily over the last few years, even in the face of the pandemic. In fact, job satisfaction is the highest recorded in 20 years and has increased for the 10th year in a row.


Factors influencing job satisfaction 

There are a number of factors that influence overall job satisfaction. Metlife has defined five key areas: purposeful work, flexibility, social & supportive cultures, career development, and wellness programs & benefits. And the latest stats from a variety of recent studies agree:

Purposeful Work 

Flexibility & work/life balance

Social & supportive cultures

Career development/training

Wellness programs & benefits

Considering each of these five areas is crucial to growing a ‘holistically healthy’ workforce. With holistically healthy employees 74% more likely to be satisfied with their job.

Other factors

Build unstoppable remote teams in less than 1h a month.

Statistics on satisfaction in remote vs. hybrid vs. on-site employees

In a 2022 report by Track Happiness, it was found workers who worked from home 100% of the time were 20% happier on average than those who couldn’t work from home.

The same report also found:

  • Millennials are happiest when working remotely.
  • Returning to office-based work after the pandemic reduced employee happiness.
  • For on-site workers, employee happiness decreases as commute time increases.

When it comes to employee satisfaction in a hybrid workplace, 44% of workers favor a hybrid working model, according to the Remote Work and Compensation Pulse Survey from May 2021.

Job satisfaction statistics by country

While it’s hard to track down world job satisfaction statistics, independent studies across the globe show how things are going in various regions.

Take job satisfaction in the USA. According to Gallup, for all its challenges, the U.S. and Canada region remains the best region in the world to be an employee. Ranking No. 1 in employee engagement, job opportunities, well-being and income to live comfortably.

When it comes to Europe, a study by UtilityBidder looked at the reviews from workers of some of the largest private employers across Europe and revealed the following countries with the highest job satisfaction in Europe:

  1. Finland
  2. Iceland 
  3. Norway
  4. Denmark 
  5. Sweden

The UK was down at number 13.

The lowest region for employee well-being? South Asia. Where only 11% of employees report that they are ‘thriving’.

Job satisfaction in different professions

In 2021, FinanceOnline brought together job satisfaction statistics by profession using a mix of surveys. They revealed the following:

The top 5 careers with the highest job satisfaction

  1. Recruiting Manager
  2. Sales Operations Manager
  3. Product Designer
  4. Marketing Assistant
  5. Brand Manager / Data Scientist

The top 5 most meaningful jobs

  1. Clergy
  2. English language & literature teacher
  3. Surgeon
  4. Directors, religious activities and education
  5. Education administrators

Want to dig deeper? Learn from the companies with the highest employee satisfaction.

Improving job satisfaction through employee engagement 

The one thing that all these job satisfaction stats have in common? They’re all impacted by the employee experience. If you’re looking to shape your employee experience for the better and improve employee satisfaction, the first place to look is employee engagement. 

Take a look at our archive full of articles to help further:

Obsessed with stats? You might like this blog on 2023 employee engagement statistics.

References

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