What affects workplace happiness in the digital industry?

Happiness, well-being and mental health is important for companies and business-owners to look out for, and since the beginning of the pandemic, many of us found ourselves working from home, which had a huge effect on happiness and mental health – whether it was positive or negative.

We looked into happiness in the digital industry and the changes that the industry may have seen in the past year – all thanks to our questionnaire respondents from the 2022 Digital Salary Survey.

Let’s take a closer look together…

Rating happiness on a scale from 1-100

The first question we asked our digital questionnaire respondents was, “How happy are you in your current role?” to which we got a positive response! On a scale of 1-100, the average number was 70/100 – an increase of 7 from last years 63/100.

It has been a tough couple of years for the digital industry, but we are glad to see that happiness ratings are going up regardless. Wondering why it has increased? Stay with us…

We assumed that working long hours could affect happiness in the digital sector, therefore we asked the question:

  • 11% work 16-34 hours per week
  • 43% work 35 hours per week
  • 44% work 37.5 hours
  • 2% work over 40 hours

These results show that digital employees tend to work an average full time working week – which is approx. 37.5 hours a week in the UK. It appears that not many people are working long, 40-hour weeks, which could explain why happiness is on the rise!

Overtime

Only 26% of professionals feel happy about doing overtime, which is pretty minimal. 51% don’t mind working overtime, and 23% are unsure at all. This all leads us to think that more and more people are less willing to do overtime, compared to 2021. Flexible working methods have been a gift to many industries, but could too much overtime threaten their new healthy work/life balance?

Achieving happiness

So, what can companies and employers do to help improve employee happiness?

Interestingly, it appears that technology such as a laptop or work phone made #1 chosen benefit for digital employees. This is expected in a way, not only due to the digital age we live in, but also the digital industry is so reliant on technology for success, and to support our new way of working remotely.

Other company benefits included:

  • Flexible working hours
  • Maternity / Paternity pay
  • Life insurance
  • Discretionary bonus
  • Company performance bonus

70% of questionnaire respondents said that company benefits affect their decision to take a new job, whereas 30% said that benefits are not important.

Overall, it looks like a mixture between the benefits that a company offers, and the flexibility they provide employees can be most important to today’s digital worker in order to maintain happiness and well-being.

If you are unhappy in your digital role, no need to worry. Check out our latest digital vacancies today!

Wondering what happiness is like in the eCommerce industry? Visit our sister brand Cranberry Panda.

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