The older the employee, the happier they will be at work.
This is according to Engaging Works, which is founded by Lord Mark Price former Trade Minister and ex managing director of Waitrose, Age Research, which found that older employees (65+) are happier at work. Middle-aged employees seem to be the least happy at work due to feeling underdeveloped coupled with a poor feeling of wellbeing. They also state they do not have enough information to do their job effectively.
Younger workers admit to not feeling rewarded or recognised and say their views are not heard at work. There is a higher chance they will suffer from anxiety in the workplace.
Older staff have happier relationships with their line managers compared to younger employees (84 per cent v 73 per cent). Both middle-aged and older employees feel their work is more worthwhile in contrast to younger workers (35+ scored 77 per cent whereas 19-34-year-olds scored 63 per cent).
The research also shows that you receive more respect at work, the older you get.
There are also differences between genders within the same age groups, as 62 per cent of male 19-24-year-olds are happier at work compared to 59 per cent of women the same age. The most content industries for young people appear to be transportation and logistics, technology, not for profit, entertainment and media, and agriculture. The unhappiest are wholesale, public sector, financial services, energy, education, construction and building materials, automotive and engineering, architecture and engineering, aerospace and defence.
Also, non-managers are slightly happier (62 per cent) than their managers (60 per cent).
Lord Price said:
It’s clear from our research that employers need to focus on helping middle aged employees feel developed, valued and informed, all to help improve their workplace happiness score. More also needs to be done to help those aged 18 and below as our data reveals that all age groups feel happier at work post Covid 19 apart from those aged 18. Maybe they’ve lost their job or feel that they have no job prospects; employers must support this age group.
This research was taken from the Engaging Works Workplace Happiness Survey which has been taken by over ten thousand employees globally since 2017.
You can listen to HRreview’s podcast with Lord Price on wellbeing which is 33 minutes long.
Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.
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