Employees in small businesses are the most satisfied at work, new statistics have shown.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has backed a report on satisfaction levels in the UK workplace by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) this week. While the TUC highlighted the low morale amongst one in four of the UK’s workforce, the poll run by YouGov for the TUC also revealed the high levels of satisfaction amongst employees of small businesses.

As well as the highest job satisfaction rate (21% strongly agreeing and 41% tending to agree), small business employees were also the most committed (64%) and loyal (58%) to their organisations. Employees in small firms also felt most engaged by their employer and reported the most freedom to choose their working patterns. There were also far fewer reports of bullying in small businesses; lower stress levels and less complaints about long working hours.

John Wright, FSB National Chairman, said: “We are concerned that 6 million people are unhappy in work, but the TUC figures suggest that 18 million are happy, the vast majority of which appear to be in small firms. In terms of the way they treat their staff, small businesses consistently out perform their bigger competitors. The figures really do speak for themselves, but they aren’t surprising.