Are you miserable at your work?

Spirits tend to be up around the festive season, but how happy are people in their line of work throughout the rest of the year?

Workwear Express has surveyed over 1000 adults currently in employment throughout the UK to find out how happy employees really are.

The research shows that just under 35 per cent say that they are happy at work, with only 14 per cent say that they plan to stay in their current job for the next year.

More worryingly, just under 39 per cent of Brits admit that they feel miserable at work and this appeared to be reflected in the amount of sickness that employees take, with 25 per cent admitting that they’ve taken sick leave from work due to being so unhappy.

But what are the most miserable jobs to work in? The survey ranks the top ten as: Call centre adviser – 29 per cent; Accountant – 18 per cent; Bin man – 15 per cent; Cleaner – 14 per cent; Banker – 9 per cent; Waiting staff – 7 per cent; Army officer – 7 per cent; Shop assistant – 6 per cent; Social worker – 5 per cent; and Doctor’s receptionist – 4 per cent.

There are lots of reasons that a person might not enjoy their job, from working long hours to dealing with difficult people.

So what’s the underlying cause of the nation’s unhappy workforce? It appears that poor management is the biggest contributor to an employee’s low sense of satisfaction at work.

Just over 31 per cent of those polled agreed that being badly managed was their biggest issue in the workplace. However, having a heavy workload was a close second, with 29 per cent of Brits citing this as the reason for their unhappiness.

With high volumes of workload being poorly managed, it’s little wonder that so many Brits are unhappy at work.

And while poor management may appear to be the underlying cause of so many of the nation’s work troubles, 28 per cent of those in a management role stated that they are unhappy with their job. Additionally, as many as 28 per cent of managers said that they feel stressed all the time at work.

But unhappiness appeared to be most prevalent in the nation’s call centres, where 29 per cent of advisors were found to be the most miserable in their line of work.

On the other end of the scale, therapists were found to be the happiest workers, with more than half of those polled saying they enjoyed their jobs.