We’re delighted to share our new Mid-Year Report: Exploring Workplace Happiness in 2025! Featuring data-driven analysis of workplace trends, employee experiences and emerging challenges from over 30,000 organisations worldwide so far in 2025.
The report finds that workplace happiness is closely linked to employees’ confidence in management (CIM) with higher trust levels correlating with lower flight risk. Globally, management roles reflect strong trust in leadership, scoring 79% in CIM, while non-management roles lag behind at 71%, a concerning gap of 8% points.
This pattern is mirrored in the UK, where management roles report a solid 77% confidence level, but non-management roles fall to 68%, underscoring a clear trust gap of 9% points. This gap in CIM appears to influence flight risk: non-management employees report a significantly higher likelihood of leaving – 28% globally and 31% in the UK – compared to their management counterparts.
Ann Francke, CEO of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) comments on these concerning findings:
“Trust is vital to all workplace relationships. Without trust, communication fails and performance is hamstrung. Organisations need to equip their managers with the skills and behaviours to develop strong relationships with their team members based on awareness of their individual needs and experiences.
CMI’s latest research, Walking the Walk, found that having a supportive manager was actually the most influential factor in people feeling supported and included at work, higher than workplace culture and D&I Initiatives. Investing in your managers really is vital!”
Read the full report here or by clicking the image below!
Other key findings of the report include:
- Disabled employees in the UK are at risk: Disabled staff in the UK have a lower confidence in management score than the global benchmark and also report an elevated level of flight risk.
- Technology leads in engagement: Technology consistently ranks as the highest-performing sector globally and in the UK for both engagement and confidence in management, highlighting strong trust in leadership within the industry.
- Sector and regional disparities: UK sectors like Retail and Hospitality underperform compared to global averages, influenced by local challenges such as regulatory changes and economic pressures.
- Workplace flexibility impacts engagement: Globally, employees who work from home frequently report higher engagement.
- Pay and financial benefits: Reflecting upon the responses to the question “What 3 changes would improve your workplace happiness?” the most frequently cited area was ‘Pay and Financial Benefits’ as stated by over 10,000 individuals.
