Tuesday 27 February 2018 3:31 pm

The UK’s happiest workers are male, over 55 and have jobs in the marketing industry

Feeling happy at work today? New research has revealed the UK's happiest workers, and the results don't come as much of a surprise.

Male workers aged over 55 who work in marketing, communications or advertising roles at small businesses are the happiest at work, according to research by workplace rewards provider One4all Rewards.

While there are some aspects you can't control – workers in the oldest age bracket (55 and over) tended to be the happiest and men rated their happiness at work higher than women on average (6.85 out of 10 compared with 6.78) – employees in the marketing, communications and advertising industry were the happiest, with staff rating their cheeriness at 8.13 out of 10.

Workers at smaller companies also skewed higher on the happiness scale. Those in microbusinesses, which employ fewer than four members of staff, reported being happier than staff at companies of any other size.

Although, it turns out most of us tend to be pretty happy at work.

The average UK employee rated their morale at work at 6.81, and just 13 per cent of respondents scored fewer than five our of 10. A whopping one in four workers rated their happiness as an eight.

But what's driving the smiles?

Most respondents said their salary was the most important factor, but relationships with colleagues, the nature of the work they do and their ability to work flexible hours also ranked high on the list.

“It is interesting to see how happiness levels vary between the different demographics. For example, those aged 55 and over are happier than any other age group – but interestingly they are also amongst the most likely to believe that the nature of the work they do plays the most key role in their morale at work – putting more emphasis on this than salary, bonuses, annual leave or anything more tangible," said Alan Smith, UK managing director at One4all Rewards.

"Clearly, the UK workforce recognises that money is not everything – but one size definitely doesn’t fit all. In order to maintain or significantly improve morale, it is important for employers to take note of what drives the different kinds of individuals in their workforce.”

	The top 10 factors to workplace happiness
1.	Salary or wages	38%
2.	Relationships with colleagues	37%
3.	The nature of the work	34%
4.	Flexible working	29%
5.	Relationships with management	25%
6.	The physical working environment	21%
7.	Annual leave allocation	20%
8.	The workload	20%
9.	Training opportunities	18%
10.	Financial-based bonuses	13%