The most important aspects of a job (top 10)

The most important aspects of a job

What do employees want most from a job? HR software provider Ciphr polled over 1,000 UK workers to find out which job aspects are most important to them.

Ciphr’s research revealed that over two-thirds (67%) of people think having work-life balance is more important than their pay and employee benefits combined (59%).

Job security and job satisfaction were cited as the next most important considerations for over half of survey respondents (57% and 53% respectively). The full results are below.


Top 10 things employees want most from a job

 

Rank Job aspect % of employees who think this is one of the most important aspects of a job 
1 Work-life balance 67%
2 Pay and benefits (total rewards package) 59%
3 Job security 57%
4 Job satisfaction 53%
5 Healthy work environment 42%
6 Recognition: feeling valued and appreciated 37%
7 Feeling safe at work 36%
8 Feeling included / belonging at work 33%
9 Right to disconnect from work 26%
10 Promotion opportunities / career progression 25%

The most important aspects of a job, according to different age groups

The most important aspects of a job - by organisational role

Pay and benefits are only the fourth most important aspect of a job (46%) for survey respondents in leadership and senior management team (SMT) roles, after work-life balance (60%), job satisfaction (52%) and job security (51%).

 

The top five most important aspects of a job - remote employees vs workplace-based employees

Work-life balance is the most-valued job aspect for nearly four in five (79%) remote workers, compared to two-thirds (66%) of workers who are either partly remote or who never work from home. While staff who are office or workplace-based are more likely to see greater value in job aspects that relate to their physical workspace and working alongside other people, such as a healthy work environment (47%), feeling safe at work (40%), and feeling included and belonging at work (38%).

The most important aspects of a job, according to employees working in different industries

The data suggests that people working in finance and insurance are the most likely to value a good salary and benefits over work-life balance (60% compared to 58% respectively). For those in IT and software, job security tops pay and benefits and work-life balance (58% compared to 54% and 54%). While manufacturing workers rate the importance of work-life balance and pay and benefits equally (63%).

Notes

Ciphr conducted an online survey of 1,006 employed UK adults between 18-21 May 2022. Around two-fifths (61%) of those polled work at organisations which have 251+ employees, a quarter (28%) work at organisations with 51 to 250 employees, and one in 10 (11%) work at organisations with 26 to 50 employees.

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