New research: Workers in Belfast are among happiest in the UK

The Northern Ireland capital came third in the table for overall employee happiness, behind London and Northampton but above Hull and Reading.

The research, conducted by equity management platform Vestd, compared businesses across a range of sectors, looking at CEO approval ratings and “recommend to a friend” scores on Glassdoor, as well as average employee tenure according to LinkedIn.

Its data shows 82% of workers in Northampton approve of their CEO, beating bosses in London. Staff also stayed with their employer for five years on average.

Explaining the findings, Ifty Nasir, chief executive office of Vestd, said that keeping workers happy was “just the start” for business leaders. He said: “Feeling happy in your job is a massive part of your general wellbeing and employers are increasingly aware of the importance of staff satisfaction, but happiness should be just the start.

“Taking employee happiness to the next level and generating employee engagement, where staff are highly motivated and genuinely invested in their company’s success, can have a huge impact on the bottom line.

“Engaged staff are significantly more likely to be more productive and contribute to a positive workplace culture - key ingredients for any growing company.”

At the bottom of the table, Liverpool was declared to have the unhappiest workers overall, with only 62% approving of their CEO. While Bristol workers had the lowest job satisfaction with only 59% recommending their company.