A new survey shows employee morale is on the rise after hitting all-time lows.
BambooHR, an HR software platform, used employee net promoter scores (eNPS)—a numeric rating of how likely employees are to recommend the organization as a place to work—and turnover data to assess employee happiness. According to the company’s recent global Employee Happiness Index with data from 51,000 employees, eNPS rose to 40 from January to June, the strongest first half of the year since 2023. This follows four consecutive years of decline.
The index notes that eNPS in the first half of the year typically outperforms the latter half, but the 4.4% increase year over year surpassed the typical bump.
The happiest companies lose 46% fewer employees than their counterparts with a lower eNPS, meaning 18 additional exits for every 100 employees each year. While unhappy companies have a first-year rate of 2.7% for early turnover, those with a perfect eNPS have a rate of 2.1%. However, the correlation between the happiness rates and turnover doesn’t necessarily imply causation.
The index also shows that new hires start off happy, while employees who are with the company for two to three years tend to be the unhappiest. Eventually, there’s a rebound: Employees with the longest tenure tend to be the most content.
There is also a substantial gap when it comes to happiness among different age ranges: 26- to 30-year-olds are the unhappiest age group with an eNPS of 31, which is 17 points lower than the 48 recorded by 51- to 60-year-olds. Last year, a survey by the Conference Board found that job satisfaction was 72% among workers 55 and older and just 57% among those ages 18 to 24. Recent reports also show that young people are grappling with AI’s impact on their careers.
Male employees also remain happier than female employees, but the gap has narrowed to 6.8 points, down from an eight-point average across the prior three years.
The rebound in happiness isn’t universal across industries, either.
According to the index, the tech industry slid from the happiest sector in 2023 to below average today. It’s a sector that has been reshaped by mass layoffs and artificial intelligence. Earlier this year, Meta let go 10% of its workforce, after which the company’s CTO Andrew Bosworth stated that employee morale was near the “worst it’s ever been.” On Blind, an anonymous workplace forum, posts containing negative sentiment about AI at Meta grew to 83% since late 2025, a roughly 300% jump since 2024. Amazon, Microsoft, and Oracle have also issued mass layoffs in recent months.
While average happiness is bouncing back, younger employees and tech workers are still struggling—the rebound is not happening equally across demographics and industries.