The British workforce is enjoying greater levels of flexibility in location and hours, research by a conference call provider has claimed.

Conference Genie polled workers in different cities to find who were the happiest in their work.

It found there is a 50/50 split between those who work in and out of the office. Of those who do work out of the office, the average amount of hours spent out each day is 3.7, with 22% of respondents also saying they work an average of 5-6 hours out of the office every day. While 53% of respondents said they do not work flexibly, 39% said they work flexible hours and 8% flexible days.

Aberystwyth was revealed to be the unhappiest city, with workers rating their happiness at an average of 3.42 as opposed to happiness leader Plymouth, where workers had an overall happiness rating of 7.25.

“Interestingly, only 42% of workers in Aberystwyth said they work flexible hours or days as opposed to the happiest city, Plymouth; where 54% said they have flexible working schemes,” said Simon Prince, marketing manager at Conference Genie.

In Aberystwyth, workers also revealed that they work an average of 8 hours over their contracted hours each week which is more than an hour and a half over the national average. Workers in Plymouth said they only work an average of 5 hours a week over their contracted hours.

The survey found that 58% of workers within Aberystwyth would relocate for a new job and the majority have had 3-4 jobs in the past 5 years. In Plymouth, only 29% said they would relocate and have only had 1-2 jobs within the past 5 years.

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Categories: News, Survey