Revealed: What Employees Want From Work

Companies across the UK are welcoming employees back to the office. But after two years of upheaval and forced remote working, has what workers want from their companies changed?

To find the answer Glassdoor analysed hundreds of thousands of anonymous reviews to reveal what employees across the UK are really talking about - and how they rate the companies they work for.

So whether you're looking for the best region for career opportunities, want the perfect work-life balance, or are interested in which city pays the most, read on to get the inside scoop from those who know companies the best - the employees.

Key Findings

Which UK Regions Do Employees Rate the Best?

Annually, employees can write anonymous reviews about their current and previous companies on Glassdoor. Pros and cons of the employer are sought and workplace attributes ranked to provide transparent, balanced and authentic insight into working at a company.

Employees ranked companies in the Greater London region as best for all but one of Glassdoor’s workplace rankings. Scottish-based companies were ranked lowest for every factor and scored the lowest job satisfaction rate (3.72 out of 5). 

The North West scooped the top score for diversity and inclusion (3.92) and was placed second by employees for three further workplace factors: career opportunities, senior leadership and positive business outlook.

Companies in the South West also did well with employees rating them highly for culture and values and work-life balance. Plus workers gave a job satisfaction score of 3.82 - on par with the UK average.

The South East was ranked 2nd by employees for culture and values and diversity and inclusion, and 3rd for work-life balance and overall job satisfaction - showing that great companies can be found all over the UK.

Want to know more? Discover the full insight from the Glassdoor Economic Research team.

Which Cities Impressed Employees The Most?

Taking a closer look at the English cities in the research, Bristol, Brighton, London and Manchester stood out as the only metros to score above the UK average for every Glassdoor workplace rating. Sheffield performed worst with the lowest scores in 4 workplace factors among the English cities including an overall job rating of 3.75 out of 5 - well below the UK average.

If you are looking for a diverse and inclusive workplace, companies in Bristol and Brighton led the ratings amongst workers. The top score of 4.01 was well above that of scores of Scotland (3.88), Nottingham (3.88), Liverpool (3.89) and Sheffield (3.89). 

For the best work-life balance, Brighton and Bristol are the places to head. Workers in these cities ranked local companies a 3.74 and 3.73 out of 5. Scotland, Belfast, Liverpool and Nottingham were again at the bottom of the table.

With the cost of living on the rise, how much you earn is a key consideration for many looking for their next role. Manchester again topped the list and was rated most highly by workers for compensation and benefits (3.55), closely followed by Bristol (3.54), London (3.53) and Brighton (3.52).  Pay in Liverpool, Sheffield, Oxford and Nottingham was poorly viewed by employees with a score of just 3.37-3.38.

Strong leadership is key to successful employee engagement and it was workers of Bristol and Manchester-based companies who praised their bosses the most. Those looking for improvements from their leaders were employees of businesses in Nottingham, Sheffield, Liverpool and in cities across the West Midlands.

Mental Health to Parking - The Topics That Matter

Digging further into the employee reviews, Glassdoor analysed the pros and cons written by workers about their companies to uncover what matters most.

‘Parking’ united the nation with workers in every English region, except Greater London, talking about the issue. With mentions in both the pros and cons section of reviews, it’s clear that parking is a benefit that many companies should consider offering.

The pandemic brought our wellbeing into sharp focus and ‘mental health’ featured heavily in the pros section of employee reviews from the North West, Scotland, South West and Yorkshire & Humber regions and individually in Manchester and Bristol. This positive sentiment suggests this area is being prioritised and employees are feeling the benefits.

With more and more companies offering remote work, ‘hybrid’ and ‘flexi’ emerged as a positive keyword for workers across the West Midlands, Wales, Northern Ireland and the North East, and specifically in the cities of Liverpool and Bristol - indicating that flexible work arrangements are proving successful.

But there are also mentions of increased pressure at work too. ‘Understaffing’ was called out by employees of companies across Scotland, Wales, the South East and North East. And uncertainty can be felt in the East Midlands where ‘redundancy’ was noted as a keyword and in Brighton and Nottingham where ‘restructure’ featured in the cons section. ‘Trust’ was also seen negatively in the cities of Leeds, Brighton and Oxford and more widely in the regions of the South West and the East Midlands.

While ‘bureaucracy’, ‘political’ and ‘transparent’ were words unique to Greater London, Brighton was the only city or region to include ‘creative’, ‘favouritism’ was frequently used in the West Midlands, ‘expensive’ in Oxford and for workers across 3 major Welsh cities, Swansea, Newport and Cardiff,, it was ‘annual leave’. 

‘Co-workers’ and ‘teamwork’ were of importance to those from Northern Ireland, East of England and North East. And with one in four employees feeling less connected to company culture, the need for a friendly, community-like work environment can be seen as the majority of regions called out ‘unsociable’ and ‘boring’ in the cons of employee reviews.

The Expert View

Explaining the research, Glassdoor economist and data scientist Lauren Thomas says “Our data shows that workers across the UK want more from their employers - and companies need to pay attention. Continued low employment rates, sky-high job vacancies and increasing numbers of people who are economically inactive means hiring and retaining talent will remain tough in 2022.

“Companies across the country are working hard to ensure employees feel part of a diverse and inclusive workplace culture that offers a sense of belonging, but there is still room for improvement across pay, senior leadership and career opportunities. Job seekers want flexibility, community - and good parking! Focusing on employee engagement can help create better workplace culture, reduce staff turnover, increase productivity and provide greater job satisfaction.”