Sustainability officers rate their happiness above average.

At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, sustainability officers rate their career happiness 3.4 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 37% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy sustainability officers are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:

Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers

Career Satisfaction Avg Salary
Climate change analyst
3.6
$73k
Green product marketer
3.6
$133k
Conservation scientist
3.6
$49k
Environmental restoration planner
3.5
$67k
Sustainability officer
3.4
$157k
Energy auditor
3.2
$78k
Soil and water conservationist
3.2
$69k
Industrial ecologist
3.2
$90k
Urban planner
3.1
$62k

So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:

  • Salary: Are sustainability officers happy with their salary?
  • Meaning: Do sustainability officers find their jobs meaningful?
  • Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as sustainability officers?
  • Work environment: How enjoyable are sustainability officer’s work environments?
  • Skills utilization: Are sustainability officers making the best use of their abilities?

Are sustainability officers happy with their salary?

Sustainability officers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.3/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most sustainability officers having generally positive views of their salary.

We asked sustainability officers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

3.3 out of 5 stars

147 sustainability officers

5 Star
16%

16% of sustainability officers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
30%

30% of sustainability officers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
29%

29% of sustainability officers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
12%

12% of sustainability officers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
12%

12% of sustainability officers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do sustainability officers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, sustainability officers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.6/5. Unlike many careers, sustainability officers have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become sustainability officers.

We asked sustainability officers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

3.6 out of 5 stars

152 sustainability officers

5 Star
26%

26% of sustainability officers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
29%

29% of sustainability officers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
25%

25% of sustainability officers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
16%

16% of sustainability officers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
4%

4% of sustainability officers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as sustainability officers?

Sustainability officers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.9/5. The majority of sustainability officers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked sustainability officers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

3.9 out of 5 stars

165 sustainability officers

5 Star
28%

28% of sustainability officers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
42%

42% of sustainability officers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
21%

21% of sustainability officers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
5%

5% of sustainability officers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
2%

2% of sustainability officers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a sustainability officer’s work environment?

As a whole, sustainability officers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.7/5. A solid majority of sustainability officers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a sustainability officer.

We asked sustainability officers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.7 out of 5 stars

160 sustainability officers

5 Star
24%

24% of sustainability officers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
37%

37% of sustainability officers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
25%

25% of sustainability officers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
11%

11% of sustainability officers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
3%

3% of sustainability officers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are sustainability officers making the best use of their abilities?

Former sustainability officers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.3/5. Most sustainability officers are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.

We asked sustainability officers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

3.3 out of 5 stars

161 sustainability officers

5 Star
17%

17% of sustainability officers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
25%

25% of sustainability officers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
35%

35% of sustainability officers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
18%

18% of sustainability officers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
4%

4% of sustainability officers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars