Industries with the highest average quantity of satisfied employees

With strike action affecting nearly all sectors of the UK economy, it may seem like the nation is at odds with employers up and down the country.

However, pay demands make up just a small facet of modern working: employee benefits, working hours, promotion opportunity and conditions in the workplace all factor in.

To establish which industry workers are the happiest in, TrouDigital has scraped the top 10 largest businesses from each of the UK’s 18 employment sectors, ranging from financial services to forestry and fishing. 

TrouDigital achieved this by compiling Statista data on the UK’s 18 primary work sectors, and an average of each’s median earnings. Then, 10 of the largest employers per listed sector had their Glassdoor reviews scraped, with an average worked out for each too. Finally, TrouDigital compiled the data into an index, calculating an index score by multiplying each result by ten, adding together and dividing the result by two, to give the most accurate results.

The data revealed that those working in the ‘assorted energy supply’ sector are the happiest, with the highest index score of 95/100. The average Glassdoor employee reviews in the sector are 3.97/5, amongst the best in the UK. Not only are they amongst the most satisfied, ‘assorted energy supply’ employees earn the highest average figure in the UK, at £45,770.

Three sectors scored 90/100 in the satisfaction index, with industries being ‘financial and insurance activities’, ‘mining and quarrying’, and ‘information and communication’. Those disparate sectors all yield strong average Glassdoor review scores, with ‘information and communication’ coming out on top with 4.01/5. ‘Financial and insurance activities’ may have had the lowest average Glassdoor rating of the three, at 3.93/5, but it offered the highest median yearly pay at £43,710.

In fifth place is the ‘construction’ industry, with a score of 80/100 overall. Whilst the sector ranks second highest in the top five for Glassdoor reviews, with an average score of 4.00, those working in the industry earn an average of just £36,259. This is almost £6,000 less than ‘information and communication’ in joint second, and the lowest figure in the top five .

For all of the sectors ranked, data has shown that those working in the ‘security and associated service activities’ industry have the lowest average rate of satisfaction with their job, at 3.27/5. Alongside a low rate of median pay, the sector’s overall index score was just 15. Those working in ‘arts, entertainment and recreation’ did have a higher average Glassdoor review score of 3.54/5, but a lower average rate of pay, and so also score 15/100 in the index.

However, it’s ‘accommodation and food service activities’ that is at the bottom of the ranking, with a score of 13/100. Whilst the Glassdoor satisfaction score of 3.59 is better than that of ‘security and associated service activities’, the yearly pay of just under £23,000 is substantially lower than any other industry sector measured. As such, ‘accommodation and food service industries’ yields a pay index score of just 0.5.

Alistair Cousins, Marketing Manager at TrouDigital said, “This data highlights how pay isn’t intrinsically attached to employee satisfaction. Colleagues want to be treated with respect, to have a strong work life balance, and to see opportunities for promotion. The benefits to a business are clear: higher employee satisfaction generally equates to increased productivity, reduced staff turnover and ultimately, improved revenue. Increasing your employee satisfaction will pay long-term dividends.