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WORK • Surveys

It’s hard to know how employees actually feel about their jobs. Last year everyone was quitting, quietly and otherwise — or maybe they were just posturing for the trend pieces. Today, the Conference Board, which has been tracking worker sentiment since 1987, brings the survey data suggesting employees are happier at work than ever.

Sixty-three percent of respondents said they’re satisfied with their jobs, a tick up from last year and a full 20 points higher than 2010. The best satisfaction indicator? Culture. More than 75% of people who expect to remain with their current jobs said they were happy with their workplace culture, compared to 22% of people who expected to leave. Last year, wages were the primary driver. Guess those new couches are working.

Oddly, despite the rise in overall satisfaction, employees reported less satisfaction in each of 26 drill-downs in the survey — wages, workload, people, etc. (Another troubling indicator: Women are five percentage points less happy than men.) The Conference Board says maybe employees have simply bought into their companies’ missions and values, allowing them to overlook the particulars of their dissatisfaction. If so, congrats to all the people & culture and internal comms teams out there!

Here’s another possibility: Employees are not actually going to work! Almost 7% are on sabbatical, including 8% of Gen Z, per payroll platform Gusto. Nice work if you can get it. –Josh Albertson