“With the labor market remaining tight for the foreseeable future, a focus on worker retention is that much more important,” said Allan Schweyer, Principal Researcher of Human Capital at The Conference Board. “These results reveal that once workers are paid competitively, a strong workplace culture is the most important factor for keeping workers. Leaders gain the most by offering flexible, hybrid work arrangements, and by emphasizing work experience and culture factors such as interesting work, reasonable workloads, and opportunities for career growth.”

Key findings include:

“Experience of work” factors lead the way in rising satisfaction. 

• Compared to 2021, non-compensation components saw the largest improvements in job satisfaction:
  •  Work/life balance: +5.8 ppts (to 60.1 percent satisfied)
  • Workload: +4.5 ppts (55.5 percent)
  • Performance review process: +4.3 ppts (52.6 percent)

Satisfaction with compensation components also improved. 

• In 2022, 57.6 percent of workers were satisfied with their wages—a 2.2 ppt increase over the previous year. Larger gains were seen in other compensation components:
  • Health plans: +4.2 ppts (to 58.7 percent satisfied)
  • Bonus plans: +4.1 ppts (47.0 percent)
  • Education/job training programs: +3.7 ppts (48.3 percent)

Satisfaction was highest among job-switchers. 

• Workers who voluntarily switched jobs since the pandemic began report higher satisfaction in almost all aspects of their jobs. Their overall satisfaction stood at 65.7 percent—3.6 ppts higher than the those who didn’t change jobs. The largest gaps were seen in:
  • Training programs: +16.4 ppts
  • Bonus plans: +15.8 ppts
  • Mental health benefit policy: +13.5 ppts
  • Promotion policy: +13.1 ppts

Flexible work arrangements drive higher satisfaction.

• Across the majority of 26 factors surveyed, employees with hybrid work arrangements report the greatest satisfaction compared to fully remote or fully on-premises workers.
• Though hybrid workers are slightly less satisfied with job security than fully on-premises workers (66.4 percent vs. 68.3 percent), they are much more satisfied in terms of pay, benefits, and access to training opportunities.
• Fully remote and hybrid workers are also significantly more satisfied than fully on-premises workers across the four elements that drive higher retention and satisfaction overall: quality of leadership, organizational culture, potential for future growth, and interest in work.

There is a large gender gap in satisfaction. 

• Women are less satisfied than men across all 26 job satisfaction categories. Their overall satisfaction stood at 60.1 percent—3.9 ppts lower than men. The largest gaps were seen in:
  • Sick day policy: 9.4 ppts
  • Bonus plan: 8.2 ppts 
  • Mental health benefit policy: 8.1 ppts
  • Communication channels: 7.7 ppts 
  • Promotion policy: 7.6 ppts

Apart from competitive pay, the factors that most influence employee retention center around work experience and culture.

• Organizational culture, quality of leadership, and work-life balance are the factors that most influence employee retention.
• These factors intersect with the top predictors of overall job satisfaction—organizational culture, quality of leadership, potential for future growth, and interest in work—suggesting that leaders should prioritize the cultural aspects of work to drive both employee retention and job satisfaction.

The Conference Board is the member-driven think tank that delivers trusted insights for what’s ahead. Founded in 1916, we are a non-partisan, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States. www.conference-board.org.