Happiness at work survey report for
Masterclass (Happi & Happi)
Table of contents
Why happiness at work matters
Results overview
Highlights & lowlights
How we measure happiness at work
Dynamic model
Experience of work
Functioning at work
11
Organisational system
14
Personal resources
18
Custom questions
21
Demographics
22
The front cover of this report summarises the happiness of the survey participants. Each square represents
one person who has completed the survey. Orange and red squares indicate poor and very poor scores,
yellow is the national average, and green and dark green indicate good and very good scores.
Why happiness at work is important
Whether or not employees are happy at work has fundamental consequences for an organisation. We now
know that there is an important business case for happiness at work and this applies to every organisation,
however big or small.
Happier employees are more productive employees. Study after study shows that happier employees
are more engaged, more motivated, provide better customer service, play more effective roles in teams and
make better leaders.
Happier employees are healthier employees. Happiness and health are interconnected. Happier
employees are less likely to get sick and if they do get ill, they recover more quickly. All in all, they show up
to work more, are more engaged when they are at work and have more energy in life.
Happier employees are more loyal. Happier employees are less likely to leave. Happier employees are
therefore essential in terms of keeping retention rates high and recruitment costs low.
Happier employees are more innovative. Positive emotions have been shown to create heightened levels
of creativity and "big picture" focus and these are both key to successful innovation. In addition, these
higher functioning teams positively embrace new ideas and are better at implementing them.
Understanding these scores
i
When answering the individual survey questions, respondents use a 1 7 scale where 1 always represents
a negative response to the question and 7 a positive response. Each of these individual responses is then
converted into an index score in order to say something more meaningful about how the results compare to
the national benchmark average. For example, if your organisation scored 3 out of 7 for a particular question,
you may think this is a poor result, until you compare it to the national benchmark average which may be 2
out of 7.
The Index scores run from 0 to 10, 0 is always the worst possible score and 10 is the best possible score. A
score of 5.0 represents the national average and serves as a benchmark. So, by glancing at the index score
it is possible to gauge instantly whether it is above or below the national average. The responses on the scale
of 1-7 are converted into the index score by looking at the pattern of responses for each question in the
national survey benchmark data (this is done by looking at their different means, standard deviations and
skews).
This survey benchmark data is based on a nationally representative population of 1,392 employed adults
(aged 18 and older) in the UK, conducted in October 2011. The national benchmark can be considered to be
statistically accurate to within a 2% margin of error.
About your survey
49%
response rate
27 responses out of a possible 55.
This is a low response rate.
How is your organisation doing?
5.8
i
Masterclass's overall happiness at work score is 5.8.
This is in the top 40% of scores for the United Kingdom
Index scores run from 0 to 10, where 0 is always the worst possible score and 10 is the best possible score.
A score of 5.0 is the average for the United Kingdom and acts as a benchmark. All your scores are displayed
like this.
The organisations overall scores are pretty good right now. Of course there will be some issues that the
happiness at work survey highlights, which could be improved upon. There also may be some teams or levels
within the organisation where things are going less well. But it is good to recognise what is going well and
find ways to amplify it.
This happiness at work survey is a great opportunity to explore these differences across the organisation in a
systematic way. Everybody would like their working lives to be better, so happiness at work has the potential
to become a shared goal across the whole organisation. Not only will a process like this help make peoples
work happier, it will also make a significant positive contribution to the quality of everyones work.
How are your staff?
59%
Percentage of staff with overall scores of 'Good' or 'Very good'
good jobs
Very poor
Poor
Average
1 person (3%)
2 people (7%)
8 people (29%)
Good
Very Good
10 people (37%)
6 people (22%)
Highlight & lowlights
The happiness at work survey covers a broad range of factors that affect peoples working lives.
Here you can see which elements your organisation is doing best and worst on.
Best scoring questions
Worst scoring questions
Team relationships
8.0
Achievable job
3.6
Trusted by manager
7.8
Personal resilience
4.6
Organisational pride
7.8
Self confidence
4.6
Relationship with manager
7.6
Free to be self
4.6
Job security
7.4
Good friends at work
4.6
Good organisation to work for
7.1
Stressful job (absence of)
4.7
Societal benefits
7.0
Use strengths
4.8
Boring work (absence of)
6.8
Co-operation between teams
4.9
Pleasant environment
6.7
Customer/client benefits
5.1
Team well managed
6.6
Work-life balance
5.1
Satisfying job
6.5
Absorbing work
5.2
Fair pay
6.5
Open organisation
5.2
Supportive relationships
6.4
Personal health
5.3
Influence decisions
6.3
Enjoy work
5.3
Worthwhile job
6.3
Feel in control
5.3
Motivation
6.3
Energy levels
5.4
Career prospects
6.2
Learning new skills
5.4
Creativity
6.2
Organisation well managed
5.6
Frustrating work (absence of)
6.0
Personal happiness
5.7
Happiness at work
6.0
Constructive feedback
5.9
A traffic light system has been used along with the 0-10 index to make the data easier to understand. It
allows us to present your results in colours as well as numbers. The traffic lights work with the index scores to
illustrate very poor, poor, average, good and very good scores. We set the cut offs for each colour at
approximately 20% so that each band represents about a fifth of respondents. This makes it easy to see if
scores fall in the bottom 20% or the top 20%.
The colour coding represents scores that are:
Very good
Good
Average
Poor
Very poor
How we measure happiness at work
Understanding human happiness has fascinated philosophers and poets for millennia but it is only in recent
decades that reliable measures of peoples experiences have been developed. Our survey asks participants
structured questions about their happiness and experiences of life. Whilst this appears simplistic it has
been shown that the measures derived by this method are very reliable. High scorers are independently
rated as happy by other people and are observed smiling and laughing more frequently. Not only do they
appear happier but they also tend to be healthier, friendlier, more successful and adaptable as well as more
generous and altruistic.
The questions in the happiness at work survey have been carefully chosen for their validity and reliability.
This ensures that good measures of the most important elements of happiness at work are constructed.
Some of the questions in the survey have been developed especially for this tool; others have been adapted
from existing sources. All of them have been influenced by the work of researchers across many different
institutions and countries.
The happiness at work survey is based on a model of well-being developed by the New Economics
Foundation for the UK Government Office of Sciences Foresight Programme. The dynamic model, as it
has become known, recognises that happiness and well-being are fluid experiences that are influenced by,
and influence, multiple interconnecting factors. In a work context these include the organisation system, the
personal resources that employees bring to work as well as how well they are able to carry out their jobs
and their experiences at work. It is through a better understanding of these interconnections that individuals
and organisations can identify the changes that will have the most positive impact on both happiness at
work and organisational performance.
When survey results are presented it is often hard to know what sort of scores are good. Is it good that 66%
of people are happy with their jobs? Is this a better or worse result than only 50% being satisfied with senior
management? To overcome these problems we have created a benchmark system based on nationally
representative samples of 1,392 employed adults in the UK. The benchmarks for each question can be
considered to be statistically accurate to within a 2% margin of error.
Dynamic model of well-being
Peoples happiness at work is not fixed or static; instead it is more fluid and moving. This view of
the happiness at work survey results illustrates the dynamic and interconnected nature of four key
areas of happiness at work.
Reading from the top of the dynamic model downwards: Peoples experience of work (how they
feel) is influenced by how they are functioning at work (what they do). This in turn is dependent
on both the organisational system they work in and their personal resources (who they are).
Other important feedback loops in the model are illustrated by the curved arrows.
6.0
Experience
of Work
Functioning
at Work
5.7
Personal
Resources
5.3
6.1
Organisational
System
Happiness and well-being at work is about both how people experience their working lives (experience of
work) and how they actually do their work (functioning at work). Peoples actions and behaviours at work
influence how they, and others around them, feel about their work. And how people feel about their work
shapes their actions and behaviours at work. Experience and functioning are interconnected, and when both
are going well employees thrive; they are not only happier in their jobs but they also do a better job.
Peoples happiness and well-being at work is also based on two different factors: where they work (the
organisational system) and who they are (their personal resources). It is important to recognise that these
two factors are distinct: some people thrive in difficult organisations, whilst others struggle in good
organisations. Clearly more people thrive in good organisations and more people struggle in difficult
organisations but it is not the same for everyone. This is why it is important to think separately about personal
and organisational factors.
Experience of work
Positive feelings
Negative feelings
6.3
5.8
6.0
Worthwhile work
Engaging work
6.4
5.7
Experience of work is about how employees feel in their day-to-day working lives. It explores the
stresses and frustrations of work, how happy and engaged they are in their jobs as well how
worthwhile they find them.
Scores for employees experience of work are good this is a great sign, though there may be some areas of
the organisation that are doing better than others. Finding ways that more employees can enjoy their work is
one way to try to create an inclusive organisation that is great to work in and does great work.
6.3
Positive feelings
Having good feelings at work and about the organisation helps people get on better together, be more
flexible, more creative, and more able to cope when things change. And it makes work fun!
6.0
Happiness at work
Thinking about the job you do, in general would you say that
you feel happy when you are at work?
5.3
Low
Medium
High
4%
63%
33%
Low
Medium
High
7%
59%
33%
Enjoy work
How much of the time you spend at work do you enjoy what
you are doing?
7.8
Organisational pride
To what extent do you feel proud to work for your
organisation?
5.8
Low
Medium
High
4%
19%
78%
Negative feelings
Stresses and frustrations are an inevitable part of our working lives. And sometimes employees are faced
with deadlines or are required to do uninteresting boring tasks. But when negative feelings are more
frequently and persistently experienced, they prevent people from performing at their best.
4.7
Stressful job (absence of)
Thinking about the job you do, in general would you say that
your job is stressful?
6.0
High
48%
37%
15%
Low
Medium
High
15%
67%
19%
Low
Medium
High
15%
22%
63%
Boring work (absence of)
How much of the time you spend at work do you feel bored?
5.7
Medium
Frustrating work (absence of)
How much of the time you spend at work do you feel
frustrated?
6.8
Low
Engaging work
Having engaged employees is the goal of most organisations. When employees are absorbed in what they
are doing they can find work very rewarding and motivating.
5.2
Absorbing work
How much of the time you spend at work are you absorbed in
what you are doing?
Low
Medium
High
15%
56%
30%
6.3
Motivation
Thinking about the job you do, in general would you say you
feel motivated to do the best you can in your job?
6.4
Low
Medium
High
7%
15%
78%
Worthwhile work
When employees find their work genuinely worthwhile and personally satisfying then not only is this much
more rewarding for them it also tends to reduce absenteeism, retain good people and raise productivity.
6.3
Worthwhile job
Thinking about the job you do, in general would you say that
the job you do is worthwhile?
6.5
Low
Medium
High
7%
11%
82%
Low
Medium
High
7%
52%
41%
Satisfying job
How satisfied are you with your overall job?
10
Functioning at work
Self expression
Sense of control
5.2
5.8
5.7
Work relationships
Sense of progress
6.1
5.8
Functioning at work is about how employees are doing in their day-to-day work. It includes whether
they feel they can express themselves, influence their work, use their strengths and get on well
with colleagues
The survey suggests that people in your organisation are functioning well at work, though there is likely to be
some variation across the organisation. Encouraging teams to look at their results together can be a very
healthy reflective process. For some teams this might be challenging but with the right level of support they
can begin to imagine new ways of working. For other teams that are performing well this sort of process can
be a great way of recognising and celebrating their successes.
5.2
Self expression
When employees feel able to be themselves and express themselves at work then they are better able to
communicate with others as well as doing a better job.
4.6
Free to be self
How much do the following statements apply to you I feel as if
I can be myself at work.
Low
Medium
High
15%
48%
37%
11
4.8
Use strengths
How much do the following statements apply to you At work, I
am regularly able to do what I do best.
6.2
Medium
High
15%
59%
26%
Low
Medium
High
11%
48%
41%
Creativity
To what extent do you get the chance to be creative in your
job?
5.8
Low
Sense of control
When employees are able to organise their own work, apply their own ideas and influence decisions around
them, they are better able to show how capable they are.
6.3
Influence decisions
To what extent can you influence decisions that are important
for your work?
5.3
Medium
High
15%
48%
37%
Low
Medium
High
15%
52%
33%
Feel in control
Thinking about the job you do, in general would you say you
have control over the important elements of your job?
5.8
Low
Sense of progress
Opportunities to do what we do best and learn new skills are important drivers of well-being. They not only
help employees to feel a sense of achievement but also stimulate innovation.
5.4
Learning new skills
To what extent have you been able to learn new skills at
work?
Low
Medium
High
22%
41%
37%
12
6.2
Career prospects
To what extent does your job offer good prospects for
progressing your career?
6.1
Low
Medium
High
37%
30%
33%
Work relationships
Good healthy relationships are the cornerstone of great teams and great organisations they also help
make great places to work. At their best, they support cooperation, collaboration, higher performance and
an environment nobody wants to leave.
4.6
Good friends at work
How much do the following statements apply to you I have
very good friends at work.
7.6
High
26%
52%
22%
Low
Medium
High
0%
19%
82%
Low
Medium
High
0%
7%
93%
Low
Medium
High
15%
63%
22%
Team relationships
To what extent do you like the people within your team?
4.9
Medium
Relationship with manager
Thinking about your working life, in general would you say
you get along well with your manager?
8.0
Low
Co-operation between teams
In general would you say that teams within your organisation
work well together?
13
Organisational system
Job design
Management System
5.7
6.4
6.1
Social value
Work environment
6.0
6.3
Organisational system is about how employees experience their workplace. It covers how the
organisation is managed, the quality of the work environment, the way jobs are designed and how
employees assess the social value of their work
Results from the survey suggest that people in your organisation feel that its processes, systems and
environment support them well but it may be that there are differences across the organisation or that the
results could be even better. As the organisation sets the context for employees working lives it offers a
great opportunity to develop interventions to improve happiness and well-being at work. The survey may have
highlighted some issues that you feel need addressing if you have some red or yellow lights you could
make it an organisational ambition to address these systematically and create more green zones.
5.7
Job design
Job design is part of the well-being puzzle. Getting the right pieces to fit together so that people's roles are
clear, varied, achievable, secure and fairly paid, is an often neglected part of the bigger picture.
6.5
Fair pay
How much do the following statements apply to you
Considering all my efforts and achievements at work, I feel I
get paid appropriately.
Low
Medium
High
15%
33%
52%
14
7.4
Job security
To what extent do you worry you might lose your job in the
next six months?
3.6
Medium
High
15%
15%
70%
Low
Medium
High
37%
44%
19%
Achievable job
How much do the following statements apply to you I have
enough time, within my normal working hours, to get my job
done.
6.4
Low
Management System
Getting the management system right is critical to the success of any organisation. In order to thrive, people
need to feel trusted as well receive regular and constructive feedback so that they learn and develop in their
roles. Line managers themselves need support, feedback and training to help them do a good job.
5.9
Constructive feedback
How much do the following statements apply to you I receive
regular and constructive feedback on my performance.
7.8
Medium
High
22%
48%
30%
Low
Medium
High
4%
22%
74%
Low
Medium
High
7%
26%
67%
Trusted by manager
To what extent do you feel trusted by your manager?
6.6
Low
Team well managed
In general would you say that your team is well managed?
15
5.6
Organisation well managed
Thinking about your working life, in general would you say
that your organisation is well managed?
6.3
Low
Medium
High
19%
56%
26%
Work environment
The atmosphere and design of workplaces not only steers employees to behave in certain ways, it also
affects how they feel. The organisational culture, the values, as well as the location and the physical
surroundings can all support, or undermine people to carry out their jobs safely and to a high standard.
6.7
Pleasant environment
Thinking about your working life, in general would you say
that the surroundings and physical conditions that you work in
are pleasant?
5.2
High
4%
26%
70%
Low
Medium
High
26%
48%
26%
Low
Medium
High
4%
19%
78%
Good organisation to work for
Thinking about your working life, in general would you say
that your organisation is a good organisation to work for?
6.0
Medium
Open organisation
To what extent is it safe to speak up and challenge the way
things are done within your organisation?
7.1
Low
Social value
Increasingly employees want to work for an organisation that creates social, as well as financial, value. An
organisations corporate and social responsibility can become an internal asset, as well as an external one,
in terms of staff retention and motivation.
16
5.1
Customer/client benefits
Thinking about your working life, in general would you say
that the job you do has a beneficial impact on the lives of
your customers?
7.0
Low
Medium
High
7%
33%
59%
Low
Medium
High
4%
22%
74%
Societal benefits
Thinking about your working life, in general would you say
that the job you do is beneficial to society in general?
17
Personal resources
Vitality
Happiness
5.4
6.0
5.3
Work-Life balance
Confidence
5.1
4.6
Personal resources is about how employees overall lives are going including their work-life
balance. How happy, healthy and resilient they are, the strength of their personal relationships as
well as the self-confidence and energy that they bring to work.
The survey suggests that employees are doing ok in their overall lives. Whilst the scores here are around the
national average, finding ways of supporting employees to feel better in their overall lives will be rewarded
with a happier, more confident and energetic workforce.
5.4
Vitality
Peoples bodies and minds are interconnected and employees can only give their best when they feel their
best. Being physically healthy and full of energy is central to well-being at home and work.
5.3
Personal health
In general would you say your overall health is good?
5.4
Low
Medium
High
15%
33%
52%
Low
Medium
High
22%
52%
26%
Energy levels
To what extent do you feel full of energy in life?
18
6.0
Happiness
If employees are happy in their personal lives it has positive impacts on both their own and their colleagues
work experiences. Having strong supportive relationships is one of the essential elements of personal
happiness.
5.7
Personal happiness
Taking all things together how happy would you say you are?
6.4
Medium
High
4%
67%
30%
Low
Medium
High
7%
44%
48%
Supportive relationships
To what extent do you receive help and support from other
people when you need it?
4.6
Low
Confidence
Peoples confidence and ability to cope with the unexpected challenges of life is what enables them able to
learn, adapt and feel optimistic about the future. This breeds resilience which is critical in the changing
world of work.
4.6
Personal resilience
In general would you say you find it easy or difficult to deal
with important problems that come up in your life?
4.6
Medium
High
15%
78%
7%
Low
Medium
High
26%
56%
19%
Self confidence
How much does the following statement apply to you:<br>In
general I am very positive about myself
5.1
Low
Work-Life balance
Work life balance is where personal and work lives meet and sometimes clash. People can find it hard to
negotiate the tensions between work and home demands. Organisational sensitivity to these issues can
often be rewarded with loyal engaged employees.
19
5.1
Work-life balance
How satisfied are you with the balance between the time you
spend on your work and the time you spend on other aspects
of your life?
Low
Medium
High
26%
44%
30%
20
Your custom questions
Firstly, which team do you work in at your organisation?
Campaigns, Policy and Networks
0 people (0%)
- Campaigns and Policy
- Networks
11 people (40%)
3 people (11%)
Fundraising and communications
7 people (25%)
Resources
Director
5 people (18%)
1 person (3%)
Which option most closely matches your job role?
Intern
Assistant
1 person (3%)
8 people (29%)
Officer or Senior Officer
Senior Management Team
14 people (51%)
4 people (14%)
21
Demographics
Your gender?
Male
8 people (29%)
Female
Other
19 people (70%)
0 people (0%)
Your age?
16 24
1 person (3%)
25 34
13 people (48%)
35 44
8 people (29%)
45 54
55 64
65 or over
4 people (14%)
1 person (3%)
0 people (0%)
Your employment status?
Full time
15 people (55%)
Part time
Other
10 people (37%)
2 people (7%)
How long have you worked at your organisation?
Less than 1 year
7 people (25%)
1-2 years
4 people (14%)
2-5 years
5-10 years
10-20 years
More than 20 years
12 people (44%)
3 people (11%)
1 person (3%)
0 people (0%)
22
