Just how happy and engaged are employees, and what employee benefits make the most difference in a small business? The 2017 Aflac Happiness Report surveyed 1,000 U.S. employees and asked them say what it was like working for a small business with some interesting results. Small businesses are in a great position for engagement!

The great news is that a huge 75% of employees surveyed said they were either very or extremely satisfied working for a small employer, with 46% attributing this happiness directly to company size. This satisfaction increased with age, as 89 percent of respondents ages 71 and over reported being very or extremely satisfied, compared with 70 percent of respondents ages 18 to 36.

A sense of value

One of the key factors driving this general satisfaction is employees having a real sense of their value within the company. The top 2 reasons are flexible scheduling – 27%  Seeing the fruits of their labor 23% and feeling like their input matters- 17%.

In fact, 67% of employees said that feeling more appreciated was the biggest benefit of working for a small company versus a large one and 86% of employees know how their job fits into the long-term plans of their employer.

Thirty-one percent of respondents said that they and their colleagues would agree that feeling like a family was the best part of working at a small business, while 27 percent said it’s that they are all working for the same goal.

Benefits do matter

It seems that when it comes to the business, whatever the size, benefits do have a part to play. 72% of survey participants said improvements to benefits would make them a happier employee and 50% felt that the package was important, with major medical and other health insurance benefits are typically the most important benefits that employees consider when making a choice about where to work.