Demographics Report iMatter Survey 2025

Workplace Experience

In this chapter we explore the relationship between demographic characteristics and how staff feel about their experience at work. Differences may be as a result of a range of factors as well as, or apart from, the demographic characteristics being compared. Where differences are seen it does not necessarily point towards absolute differences in how staff are treated at work as it could also be reflective of how different demographic groups perceive their experience.

Comparisons in this report are primarily made between mean scores as the distribution of responses in smaller demographic groups would be based on very small sample sizes.

Context

Office for National Statistics (ONS) measure well-being^[16] across the UK population. The well-being measure is based on four components:

• Life satisfaction
• Feeling worthwhile
• Happiness
• Anxiety

This data shows that life satisfaction varies across various demographic groups. The groups that typically have lower well-being scores are those who report ‘very bad health’ or disability, people who are separated and those with no qualifications.

Differences are also seen between males and females, with females more likely to report higher levels of anxiety. Across age groups, it is those aged 50 – 59 years who tend to have the lowest life-satisfaction scores, while those aged 16 – 29 years and over 60 years score higher. Across ethnic groups, those from mixed or multiple ethnic groups have lower well-being scores, with white ethnicities scoring higher.

Various published reports evidence a link between life satisfaction and workplace satisfaction. However, these reports typically do not identify a causal link between the two. This report acknowledges those variations seen across demographic groups in life satisfaction and well-being as context for the variations reported in workplace experience across Health and Social Care.

Overall Experience

Overall experience is measured on an 11-point scale (0 – 10), where 0 is a very poor experience and 10 a very good experience. The mean score across Health and Social Care is 7.0. At Board level this score varies from 6.1 (Scottish Ambulance Service to 8.0 for NHS Education for Scotland. Geographic Boards have less variation than the National Boards, ranging from 6.6 (NHS Western Isles) to 7.3 (Shetland).

There are then variations across Staff Groupings. Overall, NHSScotland staff score lower (7.0) than Local Authority staff (7.2). Within the individual Staff Groupings, Ambulance Services staff score lowest (6.0). Senior Managers score highest both in NHSScotland and Local Authority (7.5).

Whilst this data illustrates differences in Overall Experience that appear linked to organisational role, there are also differences seen across demographic characteristics:

• Females score a little higher than males (7.1 compared to 7.0). This trend for females to score higher than males is often seen in other data sets.
• Staff over 65 years score highest (7.6). Those under 25 years also score high (7.3) with other age groups scoring between 7.0 and 7.2. Higher scores for the oldest and youngest staff may be reflective of where they are on their working life journey, with satisfaction particularly towards the end, when many are beyond the official retirement age (66 years), and may be still working because of their enjoyment or level of satisfaction with their role.
• Across ethnic groups there are considerable differences. Those of mixed or multiple ethnic groups are least satisfied (6.9) and those in African ethnic groups are the most positive (8.0).
• Staff who are disabled are less positive (6.6) than those who are not (7.1). A similar pattern is seen across the various long-term health conditions reported on. Staff with no conditions score highest (7.2). Those with mental health conditions score lowest, specifically developmental disorders (6.5), mental health conditions (6.5) and learning disabilities (6.6).
• There are differences across religious groups. Hindu (7.7), Muslim (7.6) and Sikh (7.5) are the religious groups with the highest scores. The lowest scores are among Pagan (6.4), other religions (6.7) and Jewish (6.8).
• Staff who are straight/heterosexual have the highest overall experience score (7.1) and those who self-describe score lowest (6.4), with those identifying as gay/lesbian and bisexual having similar scores (6.9 and 6.8 respectively).
• Staff who are trans or have a trans history score notably lower (6.6) than those who are not trans (7.1).
• Little difference is seen across marital status with scores ranging from 7.0 for those who are married/in a civil partnership to 7.2 among those who are separated, divorced or are a surviving partner.