London top city for job satisfaction

London has been rated as the best city in the UK for job satisfaction, with Brighton, Bristol, Oxford and Manchester snapping at its heels.

David Sapsted

4 April 2022

More than 300,000 reviews posted over the past year on the Glassdoor website by current and former employees have been analysed by the jobs site, resulting in London recording the top score of 3.92 out of 5.

Bristol, Brighton, Oxford and Manchester were the only cities to score above the national average of 3.82 based on ratings of such factors as overall job satisfaction, career opportunities, diversity and inclusion, work-life balance, pay and benefits, and workplace cultures.

Glassdoor said the point of the exercise was to help businesses understand what mattered most to their local workforces and how to go about improving employee engagement.

Employees are wanting more from their employers or else they will leave

"Our data show that workers across the UK want more from their employers – and companies need to pay attention," said Glassdoor economist Lauren Thomas. "Continued low employment rates, sky-high job vacancies and increasing numbers of economically inactive people 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," added Glassdoor's Lauren Thomas.

"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."

On a regional basis, companies in Greater and Central London were scored by employees as the highest in the UK for job satisfaction while employees in North West England topped the scores for diversity, equality and inclusion, with the SE England close behind.

However, on the basis of individual cities, Brighton and Manchester were found to stand apart from the rest in this category.

Manchester also rated top for pay and benefits, with the lowest scores being recorded in Sheffield. Among English regions and UK nations, Scotland was the lowest when it came to salaries.

Scotland faced lowest ranking for job satisfaction

In fact, Scottish-based companies were ranked the lowest in the UK for each of the eight workplace factors by their employees and scored the lowest job satisfaction rate.

Among individual categories analysed by Glassdoor:

Mental health featured prominently and positively in NW England, Scotland, SW England and Yorkshire & Humber regions - and, as far as individual cities were concerned, Manchester and Bristol.
The issue of ‘parking’ was seen in the pros and cons of nearly every region in the UK except Greater London, "indicating this is an important employee benefit and a focus for workers as they make a return to the office", said Glassdoor.
Hybrid and flexible working emerged as a keyword in the positive employee reviews in the West Midlands, Wales, Northern Ireland and the North East of England, and specifically in the cities of Liverpool and Bristol.

As for chart-topping London, Ms Thomas said: “London is working hard as a city to rebuild itself following the harsh economic impacts caused by the pandemic. Glassdoor data show that this resurrection is in part being driven by the quality of jobs and job satisfaction in the capital.

"Greater London is the only region to score above the UK average score for all eight Glassdoor metrics. Over two-thirds of the region’s employees rate Greater London’s business outlook as positive, showing that the future looks bright for the nation’s capital.

“Workers do, however, mention a lack of compensation and bureaucracy in the cons of employee reviews. At a time where competition for talent is fierce and employees can demand more of their employers, providing a competitive and transparent compensation package is vital to not only attract talent and combat the rising costs of living, but to allow companies to continue to grow and expand.”

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