A survey conducted in January 2023 revealed the top ten industries with the happiest workers. Reboot Online asked people from 29 different job sectors whether they are happy about these seven aspects at work: Positive impact on others, Career prospects, Employee empowerment, Work relationships, Positive impact on mental health, Salary and Work culture.
Top ten happiest industries
1 Science & pharmaceuticals | Job Happiness Score 91.93
Science and pharmaceuticals top 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
Top ten least happy industries
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.
Joanne is the editor for Workplace Wellbeing Professional and has a keen interest in promoting the safety and wellbeing of the global workforce. After earning a bachelor's degree in English literature and media studies, she taught English in China and Vietnam for two years. Before joining Work Well Pro, Joanne worked as a marketing coordinator for luxury property, where her responsibilities included blog writing, photography, and video creation.
