Hairdressers are among the happiest workers  A survey of 1,000 adults in 20 professions by City & Guilds found that builders and construction workers were the least satisfied with their jobs.  The 'Happiness Index' also suggested that financial rewards are not the key to job satisfaction.  Instead, having an interest in what you do for a living, a good work-life balance and friendly colleagues are more important, the survey showed.  Fewer than half of workers said they stayed in their jobs because of the amount they were paid.  Bob Coates, managing director of City & Guilds, said: "With a clear impact on the bottom line, improving workplace happiness is rising up the business agenda and employers cannot afford to ignore it.  "Companies can no longer rely on those established reward and recognition policies that fail to resonate with employees and do little to combat stress levels in the workplace.  "By taking such a blinkered approach, they risk the rise of an unmotivated and unproductive workforce, and even potentially losing their staff to competitors."  Professor Cary Cooper, an occupational psychology expert at Lancaster University, said: "It provides a call to action for the business community to rethink its reward and recognition strategies and consider employees' needs on an individual basis.  "From now on a flexible approach is needed if businesses are to create a happy, and by association productive, workforce."  The survey shows that despite workers rating work-life balance as important, only one in five employers are adopting flexible working practices.  And only one in10 managers allows their employees to work from home.  2= Hairdressers and Armed Forces  9= Secretaries/Receptionists, Plumbers, Engineers and Architects  13= Journalists, Mechanics/Automotive and Human Resources  17= IT Specialists, Nurses, Banker/Finance and Builders/Construction
Happiness is making other people look good, according to research which found beauty therapists and hairdressers are the most contented workers in Britain.