Happy at work, better at the job? A study of young employees offers clues

A study of younger employees in Spain finds that different aspects of workplace well-being relate to performance in markedly different ways, challenging simple assumptions about what motivates people at work.

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Background

The socioeconomic consequences of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have put significant pressure on the job market and highlighted the vulnerability of young workers, especially Generation Z and millennials. An estimated one in six young people lost their job globally during the pandemic.

Besides unemployment, young people also face uncertainty and instability in the workplace, particularly in precarious sectors such as hospitality and retail, where temporary contracts and employment instability are more common. These challenges can affect their mental health and well-being.

This combination of employment uncertainty and poorer subjective well-being raises concerns and underscores the need to understand how modern working conditions relate to both human well-being and organizational outcomes.

The current study aimed to determine the association between work wellbeing and job performance among young employees in Spain and identify which dimensions of wellbeing were linked to different aspects of performance.

Study design

The researchers analyzed responses from 412 employees aged 35 years or younger, drawn from a larger online survey conducted in December 2023 among salaried workers living in Spain. Participants provided information on four dimensions of work well-being, including job satisfaction, supervisor emotional accessibility, organizational respect, and the impact of work on mental health and personal life.

The researchers used partial least squares structural equation modeling to examine how these well-being dimensions were related to three job performance domains: task performance, contextual performance, and counterproductive work behavior.

Task performance refers to the competency with which employees perform the technical functions of their position. Contextual performance refers to behaviors that support the organizational, social, and psychological environment in which work is carried out. Counterproductive work behavior refers to intentional, conscious actions that interfere with organizational objectives.

Key findings

The analysis indicated that greater job satisfaction was significantly associated with better task and contextual performance. Job satisfaction was not significantly associated with counterproductive work behavior. Greater reported negative effects of work on mental health and personal life were associated with more counterproductive behaviors and poorer contextual performance, but not with task performance.

The analysis showed that supervisor emotional accessibility and organizational respect had no significant direct associations with any of the three performance domains. The authors suggest these factors may function as baseline expectations rather than direct motivators of performance. The model's explanatory power was weak for task performance and weak to close to moderate for contextual and counterproductive performance.

Study significance

The study provides practical guidance for organizations seeking to support younger employees' work outcomes and well-being.

Young employees reporting greater job satisfaction also reported better task and contextual performance. The authors discuss autonomy as one component of job satisfaction, with a degree of control over work contributing to the broader measure of satisfaction. The analysis linked the overall job-satisfaction construct, rather than individual management practices, with better task and contextual outcomes.

Opportunities to develop skills and pursue personal growth were also among the features incorporated into job satisfaction. These features may contribute to satisfaction, but the study did not separately test whether they caused these outcomes.

Perceiving work as harmful to mental health and personal life was associated with more counterproductive behaviors. The authors interpret this pattern as a possible compensatory response to a perceived breach of the psychological contract.

The authors also report that more symbolic or relational benefits, such as perceived organizational respect or emotional support from a supervisor, showed no significant direct association with performance in this study.

They suggest that young employees may regard these benefits as basic expectations. Their presence may satisfy basic employment expectations without producing a measurable direct association with the three performance domains, while their absence could contribute to disengagement or poorer well-being.

The authors use these findings to propose a refinement of social exchange theory, which holds that work relationships are governed by exchange norms. Under this theory, organizations provide resources, support, and recognition, while employees may respond with greater satisfaction, commitment, and pro-organizational behaviors.

The study suggests that reciprocity may be conditional rather than automatic. The authors propose that employees assess the personal meaning and tangibility of organizational benefits, and that young workers in precarious labor markets may place greater weight on concrete gains in well-being than on abstract organizational esteem.

Based on this interpretation, the authors call for organizations to prioritize mental health protection and intrinsic job satisfaction when seeking to support younger employees' performance and wellbeing.

The analysis was limited to employees aged 35 or younger living in Spain, and the wider survey included relatively few respondents who were not of Spanish nationality. Online recruitment may also limit the applicability of the findings to people with limited digital access or technical competence.

The study also relied on cross-sectional, self-reported survey data, including employees' own assessments of their job performance. The observed relationships cannot establish causal direction, and longitudinal and cross-cultural research would be needed to test whether the same patterns persist across settings and over time.

Journal reference:

• Ramón Rueda-López, Jaime Aja-Valle, José Luís Vázquez-Burguete, María Jesús Vázquez-García. 2026. Work well-being as a key factor for better performance among young employees. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-026-09173-w