[Edaily Reporter KIM EUNG-TAE ] A survey found that this year, there were three times as many companies where employee happiness declined as there were where it increased. Within the semiconductor sector, SK hynix(000660)outperformed SamsungElectronics(005930), while in the information technology (IT) platform sector, employees at #Naver reported higher satisfaction than those at Kakao(035720).

According to the annual employee happiness survey, the “2026 Blind Index,” released on the 12th by the workplace social platform Blind, only about 100 companies saw their index rise this year, while over 370 companies saw it fall. The proportion of companies scoring 50 points or higher stood at 33%, a 14 percentage point drop from the previous year (47%).
The Blind Index evaluates the happiness levels employees at each company felt over the course of a year, measuring 15 indicators across the areas of work, relationships, and culture—developed in collaboration with the Korea Labor Institute—on an annual basis. This survey was conducted among 34,372 Korean employees who verified their employment status between July and December 2025.
By occupation, professionals such as lawyers (54 points), medical professionals (51 points), and doctors (50 points) maintained their top positions again this year, while hardware engineers (49 points)—who handle semiconductor and circuit design—entered the top ranks for the first time. In contrast, the index for medical professionals fell by more than 10% compared to the previous year, an unusual decline. The occupational groups with the lowest scores were planners (36 points), career military personnel (37 points), and customer service representatives (40 points), remaining unchanged from the previous year.
By company, KoreaGasCorporation took first place with 85 points, followed by SAP Korea and Korea South-East Power (82 points each), Google Korea (80 points), and the Korea Housing Finance Corporation (79 points). As in the previous year, the top ranks were dominated by public enterprises and foreign-owned companies.
Even within the same industry, there were significant gaps between companies. In major sectors such as platforms, telecommunications, and semiconductors, happiness rankings varied widely among peers. In the semiconductor industry, SK hynix ranked in the top 3%, while SamsungElectronics ranked only in the top 60%. In the IT platform sector, Naver ranked in the top 2%, whereas Kakao dropped from the top 46% last year to the top 93% this year.
Another notable feature of this year’s survey is the decline in attempts to change jobs. While attempts to change jobs typically increase when job satisfaction declines, this year the percentage of employees who attempted to change jobs within the past year decreased compared to the previous year, despite the overall drop in job satisfaction. This trend was observed across the board and was not limited to specific industries or job categories.
Shin Jae-yong, a professor at Seoul National University’s Business School, explained, “The current decline in job-hopping is not a result of satisfaction, but rather a result of a wait-and-see attitude stemming from a stagnant labor market.” He added, “Organizations where employees’ hearts have drifted away—even if their bodies remain at the company—lose their vitality. These implicit costs have a significant impact on productivity, innovation, and collaboration, yet they are rarely reflected in financial statements.”