The UK is happier than the rest of Europe. So why is everyone thinking about leaving?

UK employees report an overall happiness score of 7.6, 8.6% higher than the European average of 7.0. It’s not just Europe either. The UK beats the global average too, scoring 4.1% above the worldwide benchmark of 7.3.

On paper, the UK is one of the happiest, most engaged workforces we’ve measured.

But only 62% of UK employees plan to stay with their current employer over the next 12 months. Globally, that figure is 72%.

We call this the UK Workplace Happiness Paradox, and it’s the headline finding in our brand-new UK Workplace Happiness Report.

A UK lens on a global story

The UK report is a sub-segment of our Global Workplace Happiness Report, which we launched back in March. Since then, it’s been read in over 100 countries and sparked conversations with organisations across the world.

Now we’re bringing those findings home. We surveyed 24,129 UK employees, generating more than 552,000 individual data points. It’s the most detailed picture we’ve ever had of how people in this country actually feel at work, and we’re proud to publish it in the country where The Happiness Index was founded.

The paradox, unpacked

So what’s going on? UK employees report exceptional peer relationships (8.3) and energetic connections with colleagues (8.4). These strong team bonds are doing a lot of heavy lifting, buffering employees against friction elsewhere in the organisation.

That friction shows up clearly in the data. Cross-departmental collaboration is down 14.3% against the global benchmark. Feedback frequency is down 10.9%. And belonging, the single strongest statistical driver of happiness, engagement and retention in our entire dataset, sits at just 6.5 in the UK versus 7.1 globally.

In short: UK employees like the people next to them. They’re less convinced by the organisation around them.

How does the UK compare to Europe?

The report also benchmarks the UK against nine other European nations. The UK outperforms the European average across every single metric we measure, most notably in personal growth and meaning and purpose. If you’re benchmarking a UK workforce, this context matters just as much as the global comparison.

What UK leaders should do next

The report doesn’t just diagnose the problem. It sets out a clear action plan, covering how to close the belonging gap, rebuild trust between leadership and frontline staff, and shift feedback from a once-a-year compliance exercise to something people actually value.

Get the full UK Workplace Happiness Report to see the complete breakdown of brain systems, neuroscience themes, and question-level data, plus the qualitative comment analysis that brings the numbers to life.

Want to see how your organisation compares?

Aggregate benchmarks are a great starting point. But if you want to know exactly where your own culture sits against the UK or global average, a custom report gives you that detail.

That’s what we did with Fuller’s. Dawn Brown, Head of People at Fuller’s, told us:

“The benchmark report allowed us to pinpoint exactly where our culture was lagging behind the industry average and allowed us to implement strategies to close the gap. We learned that our employee onboarding outperforms the sector, which justifies the time and effort we spend on onboarding new starters. The report identified a 7% gap in Inspiration vs the sector, leading to a change in how we communicate to our people.”

If the findings in this report have got you thinking about your own culture, talk to us about a custom benchmark report. We’ll show you exactly where you stand and what to do about it.

Help shape next year’s findings

Fancy contributing to the story? Take our survey and you’ll get a free personal benchmark showing how you compare to the data. Your responses also feed directly into the 2027 Global Workplace Happiness Report, and the UK report too, if you’re based here.

Ready to see the full picture?

The paradox, the belonging gap, the European comparison, the qualitative story behind the numbers. It’s all in the UK Workplace Happiness Report.

Grab your copy and find out what’s really driving retention, productivity and performance in UK workplaces today.