Employee Happiness Declining, Particularly at Large Companies

The happiest employees work at businesses with under 75 employees, according to findings in the latest Employee Happiness Index from BambooHR. The research finds that employees in companies with fewer than 75 employees reported being 47% happier on average than those in larger companies throughout the second quarter of 2024.  

Happiness mellowed in Q2 generally, though newer employees are still happier than those with more than three years of tenure. Across regions, North America remains the happiest for workers, while APAC has become the least happy. Despite a general decline in employee happiness across all regions early in the second quarter of the year, there was a slight improvement in June.  

Smaller companies have stayed consistent or even increased in happiness for the smallest employee sizes, while the largest companies saw a drop, the report finds. The nonprofit and construction industries were the only two sectors to see small upticks in their employee happiness score in the second quarter of 2024. The travel and hospitality industry saw a 12% decrease in employee happiness, while the finance, education, restaurant, technology, and healthcare sectors saw more modest reductions.  

BambooHR lists several strategies that HR professionals can take to help increase employee happiness, including encouraging work-life balance, providing new challenges to employees, offering recognition, fostering a sense of purpose among employees, starting support groups, including feedback mechanisms, and showing empathy and support for employee well-being.