Where Are the World’s Happiest Workers?

What makes us happy at work? Is it compensation, a career path with lots of opportunities, or is it something else? A job that provides us with a sense of meaning and purpose, perhaps?

Ideas of happiness vary across cultures and between individuals but when it comes to the workplace, employers still need to be able to answer this question. After all, unhappy workers are more likely to quit their jobs, or perhaps worse, stay and spread dissatisfaction to their colleagues.

To get the answers, we took a hard look at the data on workplace happiness, analyzing the job satisfaction ratings on the largest online resource of employer reviews in the world.

Indeed Company Pages host 10 million employee reviews. Here, current and former employees assign their companies an overall ranking from one to five stars, and also rate them individually by five additional measures: management, job security and advancement, culture, work-life balance and compensation and benefits.

In The Indeed Job Happiness Index 2016 we scrutinize this data to rank 35 countries as well as major cities in the US and Europe for overall job satisfaction. The result? Data-driven insight into who’s happiest where, and what makes them feel that way.

Here are just some of the things we cover in the report:

1. A global perspective on workplace happiness

Our global ranking features a striking blend of advanced economies and developing nations. In fact, Indeed data shows that employees report high levels of satisfaction in diverse economic conditions, and the happiest workers do not necessarily live in the wealthiest countries.

We also delve into the factors influencing these results and identify the impact of work-life balance, management, culture, job security and compensation have on employee satisfaction worldwide. We also take a look at countries where employees report the lowest levels of satisfaction and explore the possible causes of their dissatisfaction.

2. Job satisfaction across the United States

The report also ranks 25 major metros in the United States by concentration of satisfied workers. And while cities in California do perform very well, job satisfaction is not restricted to prosperous cities alone. Meanwhile, a strong element of public service runs through the jobs with the highest number of positive reviews. The report also highlights what it is that US workers point to as the most significant consideration when it comes to ranking their overall happiness.

As for the least satisfied city in the US—the result may surprise you.

3. Job satisfaction in major European cities

Finally, we analyzed the data to rank major cities in the EU for job satisfaction. These results highlight the important role location within a country can make.

The happiest countries in the global list are not necessarily home to the happiest major cities: For instance, London places second, much higher than the overall placing of the UK. Stockholm and Rome also rank higher than the countries of which they are a part. The report also shines a spotlight on the happiest job titles, and what reviewers are saying about them.

To find out who is happiest and where they live, see the full report.

Learn more about leveraging your employer brand on Indeed Company Pages.

[Related: The Complete Guide to Researching a Company]