The official World’s Happiest Workplaces 2026 List has been published today (14th January 2026) by the leading employee experience platform, WorkL, showcasing the happiest workplaces globally.
The Happiest Workplaces for Financial Services includes
● HSBC UK – Financial Services – United Kingdom
● JP Morgan UK – Financial Services – United Kingdom
● Bank of America USA – Financial Services – United States
● Wells Fargo USA – Financial Services – United States
● CitiBank UK – Financial Services – United Kingdom
● Goldman Sachs UK – Financial Services – United Kingdom
● Barclays Bank UK – Financial Services – United Kingdom
● Lloyds Bank UK – Financial Services – United Kingdom
● NatWest – Financial Services – United Kingdom
● Halifax Bank – Financial Services – United Kingdom
● Standard Bank South Africa – Financial Services – South Africa
● FNB South Africa – Financial Services – South Africa
● ABSA South Africa – Financial Services – South Africa
● HDFC Bank – Financial Services – India
● ING Bank Poland – Financial Services – Poland
● Aviva – Financial Services – United Kingdom
● Nationwide Building Society – Financial Services – United Kingdom
● Prudential UK – Financial Services – United Kingdom
● St James’s Place – Financial Services – United Kingdom
● Chase Bank USA – Financial Services – United States
● First Abu Dhabi Bank – Financial Services – United Arab Emirates
● Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank – Financial Services – United Arab Emirates
● ADIB UAE – Financial Services – United Arab Emirates
● Sunlife – Financial Services – United Kingdom
● ReAssure Life – Financial Services – United Kingdom
The World’s Happiest Workplaces include
● Service Now – Technology – UK
● Auth0 – Technology – UK
● CGI UK – Technology – UK
● Jollibee – Hospitality – Philippines and Canada
● Standard Bank – Financial Services – South Africa
● Disney – Entertainment and Media – USA
● Atlassian – Technology – UK
● Sheraton Athlone Hotel – Hospitality – Ireland
● DIOR – Retail – France
● ING Bank – Financial Services – Poland
The comprehensive list of winners, compiled by WorkL, the employee experience platform that measures, tracks, and improves employee engagement and employee happiness at work, saw over 120,000 organisations entered for their 2026 awards. The list can be searched by organisation name or filtered by 25 different industries, countries and 10 categories.
Over a million employees took WorkL’s Happy at Work Test to enter their organisation into these awards. The anonymous test, which takes less than ten minutes for employees to take for free, looks at various areas that impact work life, including WorkL’s Six Steps to Workplace Happiness; Wellbeing, Job Satisfaction, Reward & Recognition, Information Sharing, Empowerment and Instilling Pride. Organisations who scored 70 and over are included in the exclusive list.
Lord Mark Price, Founder of WorkL comments on the list; “I’m delighted to publish the World’s Happiest Workplaces 2026 List today. Organisations who are recognised report higher productivity, lower staff turnover and lower sick leave as a result of employees being happier. Our research shows that nearly 50% of people are unhappy, anxious or depressed at work. It’s our mission to make the world’s workplaces happier, and it starts with acknowledging the ones who are doing a good job.”
WorkL
Lord Price launched WorkL, back in 2017, along with WorkL For Business which now helps over 1000 businesses globally improve the happiness and engagement of their teams and has seen over 1.5 million individuals globally take the free WorkL Happy At Work Survey which helps people determine how happy they are in their current job. WorkL currently operates in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and the USA.
The test, featuring 31 questions, is centred around the Founder, Lord Mark Price’s widely approved employee engagement theory: Six Steps to Workplace Happiness, which includes Reward & Recognition, which are integral to retaining talent. Developed by behavioural scientists, data analysts, psychologists, business leaders, academics and other independent parties, the survey accurately monitors employee engagement and wellbeing in the workplace.
To achieve a high overall engagement score, a company must consistently perform well across its six-step framework, encompassing: Reward and Recognition, Instilling Pride, Information Sharing, Empowerment, Wellbeing and Job Satisfaction Each of WorkL’s Six Steps consists of between three and five key elements, which are measured on a 0-10 scale.
