If you find yourself arriving home after a long day at work only to spend a solid 10 minutes ranting about your boss, you’re not alone. A new study has revealed that on average, British employees rate their relationship with their employer at only 6.6/10. Contributor Luke Battah, CEO – PASS Technology.

For healthcare workers, the figure is even lower – a mere 3.8/10 – but if you’re in the IT sector, your boss might be doing something right as IT employees rated their relationship with their employer at 7.3/10. In comparison and perhaps unsurprisingly, employers nationwide voted their relationships at slightly a higher average than their employees, 6.8 out of 10.

The research, conducted by leading background checking technology experts, PASS, found striking regional variations: when compared across the UK, the study found that employees in the South West scored their relationships highest in the country with an overall rating of 7 out of 10. Opposingly, those in the North West voted these connections at just 6 out of 10, the lowest ranking in the UK.

Employers could be doing more to get workers on their side – only 1 in 10 employees socialise with their colleagues outside of work. On top of this, only 1/3 believe their employer does enough to keep spirits high in the workplace, but bosses seemed to be complacent with 48 percent of them thinking they are doing enough to boost morale.

PASS also asked workers who had been with their company for a number of years about why they stayed. Happy workers are more likely to remain at their companies for many years: 32 percent percent said it was down to having a decent wage and 21 percent attributed their long term commitment to having trustworthy relationships with colleagues. 14 percent said there were career progression opportunities; 11 percent said it was because their office was in a convenient location; 11 percent said it was down to the good and flexible hours, and the last 11 percent said employee benefits and incentives were the key to their long-term employment.

Employees were asked if background checks would make them feel more trusting of their team – 65 percent answered ‘yes’. It also found that 75 percent of workers think background checks should be compulsory before anyone is hired to a position.

“A good employee-employer relationship is critical for the culture and success of a business or brand. These survey results show there is an unfortunate discrepancy between how employers and employees rate their relationship.” said Luke Battah, CEO at PASS Technology.

“Fortunately, there are a number of things that businesses can do to address this. Company perks, team activities and a better work life balance are approaches that are worth considering but employers often overlook how important background checking can be.

“Background checks develop a more trusting setting for both employers and employees alike. Employees who know sufficient background checks have been done in their business are more trusting of the colleagues and feel safer and more confident with their employers.”