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How happy people are also depends on their job. The comparison platform Kununu surveyed employees and received surprising answers.
The view from the office of the Hamburg harbor or the Frauenkirche in Munich can certainly contribute to a sense of well-being at work. But are employees in Germany’s largest cities really the most satisfied? The job comparison portal Kununu has addressed this question. For its annual satisfaction atlas, the platform evaluated the ratings of more than 450,000 employees and selected the locations where employees feel most comfortable. These include expected metropolises such as Stuttgart and Hamburg – but employees in East Westphalia are particularly happy.
East Westphalia, Hamburg, Southern Germany: Surprises in the most popular employee cities
First place in the ranking goes to Swabia: According to Kununu’s analysis, the residents of Stuttgart are the most satisfied with their place of work. Second place, however, is a surprise: The East Westphalian city of Bielefeld climbs onto the podium ahead of Munich, which comes in third. Dortmund and Münster are in the next places.
Employees in Wuppertal, Leipzig and Duisburg, on the other hand, are particularly dissatisfied; all three cities slipped at least one place compared to the previous year.
Looking at entire federal states, there is a clear east-west divide. Accordingly, employees in the old states are significantly more satisfied than in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia. With one exception: Saarland is the state with the lowest employee satisfaction.
Overall, satisfaction on the German labor market has fallen slightly in the past year, according to Kununu. While last year it was at an average of 3.67 on a scale of 1 (bad) to 5 (good), it has fallen to 3.62 in the past twelve months.
“Many employers invest heavily in the satisfaction of their workforce, not least because satisfied employees are the best brand ambassadors,” explains Kununu CEO Nina Zimmermann. “Our figures are an important barometer for which locations employers invest more in the feel-good atmosphere of their employees than elsewhere.”
Tax consultants, insurers and IT experts: these are the sectors in which people are most satisfied
But there are not only geographical differences in employee well-being – there are also sector-specific differences. According to Kununu, employees in the financially strong areas of tax consulting/auditing, insurance and IT are the happiest. At the bottom of the ranking are jobs in the textile industry, retail and art and culture, which are on average less well-paid.
“Industries affected by the shortage of skilled workers, whose business is currently still going well, are evidently investing heavily in their employer assets. This includes extensive benefit programs, attractive salary benefits and investments in the corporate culture. All of this then contributes to high levels of satisfaction among the workforce,” explains Zimmermann.
For the satisfaction atlas, Kununu evaluated 454,882 satisfaction data from employees from numerous industries and professional fields across Germany. The data was collected in the survey period from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024. The basis is the Kununu score, which is made up of a total of 13 evaluation dimensions. The percentage is derived from the proportion of ratings that result in an average of 4 or 5 stars. Ratings from applicants and trainees were excluded from the evaluation.
Source: Stern
