Happy Work, Happy Mind: Job Satisfaction Varies Between Age Demographics

A key component to a positive safety culture – as well as overall firm culture and productivity – is job satisfaction. If workers are happy with their job, they are more likely to engage with their work and follow procedures properly. Positive attitudes decrease the probability of incidents occurring, ultimately creating a safer working environment. But who is happiest at work? While they may be the subject of concerns around capabilities, job satisfaction is highest among older workers. That is, according to a survey on job satisfaction conducted by global think tank The Conference Board in the US in 2025, which showed that 72.4% of workers aged 55 and above are satisfied with their jobs – while only 57.4% of workers under 25 say the same.

Although overall worker satisfaction saw the largest increase in the study’s history between the previous survey in November 2023 and this iteration, the under-25 category experienced a decline. Meanwhile, satisfaction among older workers increased significantly. The main drivers behind this increased satisfaction were culture-based, spanning interest in work, quality of leadership, workplace culture, workload and supervisor relationships. On the other hand, satisfaction through compensation such as increased wages and bonuses, had less impact.

Growing job satisfaction may be the result of a strong economy with low unemployment and stable compensation growth, as well as the proliferation of hybrid working flexibility and clear performance feedback. Changing societal attitudes have placed greater emphasis on worker mental health, too, with best practices like total worker health building off the acknowledgement that worker wellbeing is influenced by both physical and mental factors. This has spurred interventions such as changes to the work environment; many organizations now provide workers with hybrid flexibility, allowing them to split their working days between their home and worksite, with the aim to increase satisfaction and productivity.

Moving forward, it is important that firms not only maintain the job satisfaction of their older employees, but also improve morale among younger employees. Digital technology, ubiquitous in modern working life, is a key force at play here. Younger workers are more likely to have experience with emerging technologies and to be more comfortable using them, while older workers’ lack of exposure to and experience with these devices may stall uptake. To ensure widespread adoption, organizations must engage with workers across the board to ensure that they understand the benefits of new technology implementations and how to use them.

The uptick in job satisfaction is promising for EHS teams, who are set to benefit from increased performance and decreased threat of major safety incidents. Amongst this progress, there are areas for improvement, and it is important that firms address young workers’ concerns. To read more about the impact of job satisfaction on EHS, visit our research portal.