After four straight years of decline, employee happiness is finally turning a corner. In H1 2026, Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) is up 4.4% year-over-year, marking the strongest first half since 2023, according to BambooHR platform data.
In fact, happy companies lose 46% fewer employees than unhappy ones.
But the recovery isn’t reaching everyone equally. Gen Z workers remain 17 points less satisfied than their older colleagues, and the tech industry is bucking the recovery trend entirely, sliding from the happiest sector in 2023 to below-average today.
“To close the gap you need to understand what’s driving a different experience in the first place,” says Nicole Csiszar, senior director of HR services at BambooHR. “The solution isn’t one-size-fits-all. It’s designing experiences that reflect the reality of a diverse workforce rather than an ‘average employee’ who doesn’t really exist.”
Key takeaways:
· With H1 2026 eNPS now within half a point of its 2023 level, this is the strongest first half seen in three years. While the first half of the year typically outperforms the latter half, this is a 4.4% increase year-over-year, surpassing the typical H1 bump.
· Companies with a negative eNPS are also more likely to lose new hires. Unhappy companies have a monthly rate of 2.7% for early turnover, compared to 2.1% for companies with an excellent eNPS. That’s a nearly 30% difference.
· Applicants per job posting have doubled from 2021 to 2025, but in the same period, hiring rates have fallen from 4.5% to 2.8%. All the hard work of sifting through large applicant pools in the midst of a low-hire period is for nothing if new hires choose an early exit.
· Among companies with 150 or fewer employees, a negative eNPS lose 18-19 percentage points more of their workforce annually than their happiest counterparts. At a 75-person company, that's roughly 14 extra departures per year. For companies with 301-500 employees, the turnover gap between happy and unhappy workforces shrinks to just 4.5 percentage points.
· The happiness gender gap for H1 2026 shows that men are 6.6 eNPS points happier than women. That's down from the average 8-point gap of the previous three year.
· While workers over the age of 50 have made strong gains in satisfaction levels, workers under 30 have seen only a moderate improvement in happiness. Meanwhile, middle aged workers (between 30-50 years old) are mixed: Employees in their 30s have gotten slightly happier, the early 40s cohort had a more meaningful increase, and, interestingly, the late 40s cohort actually saw a small dip in satisfaction from 2025-2026.
· The tenure U-curve trend for happiness continued in the first half of 2026, but the drop in satisfaction for mid-tenure employees is lessening. New hires and long-term employees are the happiest, with an average eNPS of 51-57, respectively. Mid-tenure workers represent a low point in the employee journey, and employees with 2-3 years of tenure had the lowest eNPS at 33, well below the overall average for H1 2026.
· New hires are a reliably happy cohort. The first year on the job appears to be a honeymoon phase—workers are optimistic and report a higher level of satisfaction than more tenured employees.
· The 2- to 3-year mark is the consistent low—these are the disillusionment years, when optimism fades but loyalty hasn't formed. After bottoming around 30 throughout 2025, eNPS for the 2- to 3-year tenure cohort rose to 33 in first half of 2026.
· Employees with 11-15 years of tenure saw the biggest jump in happiness. This group had a nearly 8-point increase in eNPS from 2025 to H1 2026.
· Following past trends, employees with more than 25 years of tenure continue to be the happiest tenure cohort. Veteran employee satisfaction surged from an eNPS around 49 in early 2025 to a peak of 58 at the end of the year.
· Construction continues its lead in the first half of 2026, with an eNPS of 51.
· Technology is the only industry in a sustained decline. The industry went from leading all industries in happiness in 2023, with an eNPS of 42, to falling below the overall average in H1 2026 with an eNPS of 37. This drop in morale could be tied to the rise in tech layoffs over the past six months.
· Finance shows the strongest H1 2026 recovery, with an average eNPS of 47, up 10.5% year-over-year. Despite these gains, the industry is still vulnerable among its more tenured cohort, who report much lower satisfaction levels.
· Restaurant, food, and beverage remains the lowest-scoring industry, with an eNPS of 34 in the first half of 2026.
