Because they’re worth it - UK Beauticians are made up about their jobs

Making other people look and feel good is having a positive effect on beauticians as they top the poll of the happiest workers in the UK. According to the City & Guilds Happiness Index, which is compiled annually to track the satisfaction of the country’s workforce, beauticians enjoy their careers more than anyone else, awarding their jobs 9.2 out of ten on the happiness scale1.

Contributing to their happiness in the workplace is the ability to meet lots of new people (95 per cent) and being made to feel appreciated (90 per cent). Other happy vocational workers3 are florists and hairdressers who rated highly.

Meanwhile, many of their white-collar4 counterparts are less content in the office with IT specialists, civil servants, lawyers and pharmacists rating their happiness as less than 7.55 out of ten. Top of the list of reasons for feeling unhappy in their jobs is feeling stressed (55 percent) and feeling underpaid (35 per cent).

And when it comes to work life balance in the UK, it is Britain’s vocational workers who again top the list of satisfied workers, with DJs giving their work life balance2 a rating of 6.7 out of ten. The ability to choose when they work (52 per cent) and being able to fit their work around their life (50 per cent) are important factors for DJs. The top five jobs with good work life balance are all vocational with beauticians coming in at number two (6.6), closely followed by chefs/cooks (6.4).

Sadly, a successful work life balance remains a distant dream for many white-collar workers with them giving their work life balance a rating of just 4.5 out of ten. This is compared to an average of 5.2 for vocational workers.

Encouragingly, workers’ levels of happiness have increased from last year amongst most professions with vocational workers continuing to lead the way in the happiness stakes. Vocational workers rated their happiness level as 8.3 compared to 8.0 last year while white collar workers rate their happiness level as 8.0 compared to 7.6 last year.

And it seems that vocational workers get happier with age. Vocational workers aged 50 and above gave themselves a happiness rating of 8.7 compared to 8.2 of those aged under 30.

Says Keith Brooker, director of group markets and products at City & Guilds: It is great to see that workers in all careers are happier than they were last year. Given the amount of time we spend in the workplace finding a career that we are happy with - whether in a white-collar or vocational profession - should be everyone’s priority.

Brooker continues: Work life balance is a relatively new term for an age old concern. Our figures show that often in spite of rating their work as happy, far fewer workers in the UK consider themselves to have a good work-life balance. The relationship between these two factors is complex and warrants further study but it is perhaps a warning to all employers that levels of satisfaction in this important area are low.

Dr Stephanie Morgan, Chartered Psychologist added: Happiness at work is something that deserves far more research attention than at present. These findings highlight that for many people interacting with others at work is a key factor in their happiness.