Revealed: legal staff the UK's happiest workers

Legal employees are the happiest workers in the UK, according to a new survey of office professionals.

Eighty-eight per cent of legal staff rated their happiness in the workplace as three out of five or above - some 10 per cent higher than the average employee in the nation as a whole.

This makes the legal profession 6 per cent happier than in 2007, when 82 per cent selected the top three categories.

The results were published by recruitment agency Badenoch & Clark, which surveyed 1,322 office workers across 11 sectors.

Badenoch & Clark executive director Alison Burgin said: “Too often firms are painted as workhouses where long hours rule and employee engagement is an endangered concept.

“What these figures show is that despite the stereotypes, legal professionals are generally happy in their work.”

However just 23 per cent of legal staff said they had confidence in their firm’s management team.

The survey also found that only a third of legal staff asked felt optimistic about career prospects with their current employer.

The most miserable employees were property professionals, with more than a third rating their happiness as just one or two out of five.