{"id":168137,"date":"2025-12-04T18:21:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T18:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/168137\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T18:21:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T18:21:10","slug":"seek-workplace-happiness-study-on-what-really-drives-happiness-in-your-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/168137\/","title":{"rendered":"Seek Workplace Happiness study on what really drives happiness in your job"},"content":{"rendered":"

Additionally, purpose, day-to-day responsibilities, company culture and senior leadership were the most common factors judged as contributing to Kiwis\u2019 happiness at work. The influence of an employee\u2019s manager on happiness has risen significantly, climbing to the third most influential factor, from ninth place in 2024. <\/p>\n

Job security, ranked 10th in 2024, is now seventh, yet satisfaction in this area has declined (54% in 2025, down from 61% in 2024). <\/p>\n

Salary has become far less influential, dropping from fourth to 13th place. Study organisers suggested this signalled \u201cthat while pay remains a key motivator when changing jobs<\/a>, it doesn\u2019t necessarily drive long-term happiness once people are in a role”.<\/p>\n

Seek\u2019s country manager Rob Clark, said it was encouraging to see overall workplace happiness holding steady but it was not surprising that happiness levels with job security had declined, with many Kiwis feeling the impact of the current economic climate on the jobs market<\/a>. <\/p>\n

He said the findings presented a \u201cclear opportunity\u201d for businesses. <\/p>\n

\u201cHappier employees are more likely to be engaged and productive, and far less likely to be looking for another role.\u201d<\/p>\n

Index answers also highlighted clear generational differences. <\/p>\n

Gen Z\u2019s happiness at work rose 13% in the past 12 months (58% in 2025, up from 45%), but they were the least happy generation in the workforce. They were followed by 62% of millennials and 69% of Gen X who said they were happy in their roles.<\/p>\n

Gen Z workers<\/a> (born 1997\u20132012) were the most disgruntled overall, feeling the least valued at 51%, while Millennials sat at 60% and Gen X rated their satisfaction levels at 71%. <\/p>\n

The Gen Z workers were also the generation that most often dreaded going to work with more than a third feeling burned out or exhausted.<\/p>\n

Gen Z reported being happiest at work when recognised for their efforts, feel productive, find their work interesting, feel listened to or valued and have the freedom to work independently.<\/p>\n

\"JobJob security, ranked 10th in 2024, is now ranked seventh, yet satisfaction in this area has declined. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Organisational psychologist Justine Alter said it was not enough for businesses to be aware of unhappiness in the workplace, they also needed to make plans to cultivate a psychologically safe workplace.<\/p>\n

Alter said it was vital that leaders cast aside assumptions about what drove younger workers noting \u201cwhat drives younger workers today is very different to what it was 10 years ago\u201d. <\/p>\n

Alter said the biggest sign it was time to look for a new role was when your current one didn\u2019t align with your values<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, if you value teamwork, but you\u2019re working completely on your own, you\u2019re just going to experience feelings of discontent. And, left unchecked, that can start to lead to symptoms of mental health distress. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you report a psychosocial risk, such as high work demands, poor support, bullying and harassment etc, in the workplace and it\u2019s not addressed, that\u2019s another red flag.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Additionally, purpose, day-to-day responsibilities, company culture and senior leadership were the most common factors judged as contributing to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,48057,52606,92291,17646,13640,78,3112,807,25449,3025,111,139,69,90,14718,5970,11925,39023,383,165,6923,4576,17708,1959],"class_list":["post-168137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-determining","tag-drives","tag-factor","tag-happiness","tag-important","tag-in","tag-job","tag-kiwis","tag-level","tag-most","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-purpose","tag-really","tag-seek","tag-sense","tag-study","tag-their","tag-what","tag-work","tag-workplace","tag-your"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}