UK workers seem to be happier with their offices than ever before: according to our What Workers Want (WWW) study, 53 per cent of UK office workers surveyed earlier this year now say they’re happy with their workplace, compared with 48 per cent in our last survey in 2016.

When it comes to what they want to see improved in the office, however, although there are some general trends, the factors respondents would like to see tackled vary between geographies, genders, age groups and industries.

Some want better meeting room facilities, others more outdoor space, increased cycle storage or a quieter working environment. But one thing that does come through loud and clear is that no matter what the areas highlighted for improvement may be, workers who said they had been consulted by their employers about their office space are happier with their workplace than those who hadn't.

Only 34 per cent of UK office workers surveyed said they had been asked their views on their office environment by their current employer, while 59 per cent said they hadn’t.

Of those that had been asked, 60 per cent went on to rate themselves as being happy with their workplace and only 10 per cent said they were unhappy (the remaining 30 per cent were neutral). Of those that hadn’t been asked, however, only 48 per cent said they were happy, while 16 per cent were unhappy (36 per cent neutral).  

Interestingly, WWW also shows big variations in location as to whether workers said they had been asked their views by their employers or not (see graph below). Again, there seems to be a direct correlation between those locations where more employees said they had been asked and those with the highest happiness rates. 

What we don’t know from WWW is how many of those workers who gave their views actually saw their employers make changes to the workplace in response to the feedback received. Probably not: realistically even the most responsive employer can’t keep all the people happy all the time.

But it seems that even having a perceived degree of control over the working environment has a large impact on employees’ assessment of their wellbeing.

Companies having a dialogue with employees about what they do and do not like about the workplace, so long as expectations are managed about what can feasibly be changed, seems therefore to be a good place to start to ensure happiness levels in our next WWW rise even more. 

The correlation between employees being asked for their views on their office and their happiness

Further information

Read more: What Workers Want 2019