People working from home in Milton Keynes are the happiest in Britain, new survey reveals

A 'Pursuit of Happiness' survey has shown Milton Keynes people are the happiest in the nation about having to work from home.

The average WFH employee in Milton Keyes rates their working from home happiness at 7.1 out of 10, a survey has shown,

This compares to a national average of 6.6 out of 10.

The survey was carried out by Insolvency Practitioners Hudson Weir , who polled thousands of employees from all over the country.

They found the least happiest home workers were in Newcastle, Sunderland and Belfast, where the average rating was a lowly 6.2.

"It appears the real winners are workers in Milton Keyes, who sound like they never want to set foot in an office again," said a Hudson Weir spokesman.

Broken down by industry, the happiest home workers are in the IT and tech industries, with a 7 out of10 happiness rating.

"This is understandable, given that many of them may have been working from home for part of the week in pre-pandemic times," said the spokesman,

Surprisingly, high-earning lawyers were among the least content, rating their happiness at 4.9 out of 10. However, it is charity workers who are the unhappiest.

"Given the economic crisis brought on by the pandemic, many employees in this industry may be bored twiddling their thumbs as donations dry up," said the spokesman,

He added: "Working from home seems to have turned us into serious homebodies. Like, people who almost never actually leave their house. The survey found that the longest employees go without setting foot outside their front door is a slightly concerning 3.6 days in a row.

"Hey, it’s not prison - you are allowed to do exercise outside! But then the snag when your home is now your office is that you can find it hard to switch off."

More than half of employees (66%) say they put in more hours of work each day when WFH than they do in their physical workplace. And over half (54%) take fewer breaks than they would if they were at the office.

"Were we all just slacking off before? Or is it maybe that without the distraction of other people we find we can actually get more done? One thing’s for sure, a significant 85% of employees have said they take fewer sick days while working from home - though perhaps that’s because there are fewer viruses floating around."

You can access Hudson Weir's happiness index map here.