While the recruitment industry is all about margins and metrics, recruiters could be well advised to sit back and think about how happy their client and colleagues are.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) has announced it will publish national well-being statistics in the spring, which a press release for the agency calls “vital in understanding how to measure the UK’s progress by more than just its economic performance”.

The 10 ‘domains’ the report will look at include health, what we do, personal finance and the economy.

Leading by example, an in-house survey of Recruiter magazine staff found 50% describing themselves as ‘well’, with one respondent saying: “I’m sorry, what are you asking me — am I Welsh?”

Recruiter advises these parameters be better defined in the ONS study.