HR workers are the most unhappy at work for the third quarter running, according to the 'Happiness at Work' index.

Recruitment consultancy Badenoch & Clark carried out the research, and surveyed over 1,000 UK office workers in the following professions: legal, HR, finance & accounting, sales, media & marketing, IT & telecoms, retail, catering & leisure, manufacturing & engineering, travel & transport, and education.

The findings revealed that HR is top of the 'unhappiness' table, with 29 per cent unhappy at work, followed closely by IT at 25 per cent. Perhaps a career change to retail or catering could be on the cards – with just 10 per cent in these sectors claiming to be unhappy in their jobs, therefore coming bottom of the table.

Further results showed that 48 per cent of British workers anticipate changing jobs this year, while people based in Brighton, Bristol and Belfast are the unhappiest workers.

Matt Gascoigne, senior manager at Badenoch & Clark, said: "We always see an increase in people seeking to move jobs in January – in fact the number of jobseekers visiting our website in the first two weeks of January alone was almost double those visiting in the whole of December."

However, HR professionals appear to be unfazed by continued uncertainty about the prospects for the UK economy, with 45 per cent having more confidence in their job prospects in 2008 than they did at the beginning of 2007.

"What's particularly interesting is the volume of people who anticipate making a change in 2008, and the relatively low impact the current economic uncertainty seems to be having," Gascoigne remarked. "It seems that workers remain confident that they'll find new roles."

"Employers need to consider not just their recruitment strategies to attract talent with itchy feet; they also need to be imaginative in how they work to improve happiness at work and to retain valued employees."