Compared to 5 years ago, I am happier with the work I am doing now

The mean rating was 4.9 and the median 5.0 (n = 804 respondents). Ratings of 3 or below, the distressed range, made up 26.62% of the answers. The rating was associated with all four study measures. Higher ratings came with less cancellation (r = −0.59, 95% CI −0.69 to −0.48, p < 0.001, n = 150 engagements), higher customer satisfaction among active engagements (r = 0.72, 95% CI 0.61 to 0.81, p < 0.001, n = 94 engagements), a higher engagement indicator mean (r = 0.77, 95% CI 0.69 to 0.83, p < 0.001, n = 150 engagements) and lower intent to leave (r = −0.76, cluster bootstrap 95% CI −0.80 to −0.70, p < 0.001 with standard errors clustered by engagement, n = 755 respondents). After Holm correction, ratings differed by engagement status and lifecycle stage (Welch F 32.20, Holm p < 0.001, omega squared 0.347) and respondent role (Welch F 9.51, Holm p = 0.001, omega squared 0.020).

A single written response addressed the indicator, from C177, the comment field on the AI tools, with a positive score of 5. The respondent said the tool had made the job better: the same password and leave-balance questions no longer arrived many times a day, and only the unusual cases where policy was unclear reached the respondent.

Ratings of 3 or below, the distressed range, accounted for 214 of the 804 answers (26.62%). The engagement mean fell in the distressed range in 26 of 150 engagements.

The single response was secondary. It answered C177, “Add any comments on the agentic AI tools that the ratings in this section do not capture.”. The respondent said the tool had made the job better. Before it, the same password and leave-balance question arrived fifty times a day. Now only the unusual cases reached the respondent, where policy was not clear, and the team was less bored and less tired by evening.

The single response carried a score of 5. With fewer than 10 responses, the distribution is reported as counts only.

Every figure in the segment tables is at respondent level. Segments with fewer than 30 respondents carry no interval. Segments with fewer than 10 report counts only.

Segment families recorded at engagement level were tested on engagement means. Respondent role and vendor type were tested on respondents. Where an expected count fell below 5, the test of the distressed share used Fisher's exact test for a two-by-two table, marked exact, or a Monte Carlo test, marked simulated. After Holm correction, ratings differed by engagement status and lifecycle stage (Welch F 32.20, Holm p < 0.001, omega squared 0.347). Active engagements in Production rated highest (mean 6.0, n = 97 respondents) and canceled engagements lowest (mean 3.6, n = 302 respondents). Ratings also differed by respondent role (Welch F 9.51, Holm p = 0.001, omega squared 0.020). Portfolio directors rated highest (mean 6.4, n = 31 respondents) and individual contributors lowest (mean 4.8, n = 621 respondents). Outsourcing model, institution type, process family, class of work and vendor type showed no difference.

Cancellation rate is the share of engagements canceled by the study date, measured at engagement level (150 engagements, 56 canceled). Canceled engagements were rated after cancellation. The association is therefore a descriptive contrast and not a forecast of cancellation.

Across the study set, higher ratings came with less cancellation (r = −0.59, 95% CI −0.69 to −0.48, Holm p < 0.001, n = 150 engagements). The association held after Holm correction in fourteen of the 20 segment levels tested.

Customer satisfaction is the percentage recorded against each engagement. The primary estimate uses the 94 active engagements. A descriptive contrast uses all 150 engagements.

Across the active engagements, higher ratings came with higher customer satisfaction (r = 0.72, 95% CI 0.61 to 0.81, Holm p < 0.001, n = 94 engagements). The association held after Holm correction in thirteen of the 16 segment levels tested.

The engagement indicator mean is the mean of an engagement's ratings across the rated indicators, measured at engagement level (150 engagements). The indicator does not enter the mean.

Higher ratings came with a higher engagement indicator mean (r = 0.77, 95% CI 0.69 to 0.83, Holm p < 0.001, n = 150 engagements). The association held after Holm correction in twenty-three of the 24 segment levels tested.

Intent to leave is the answer to C019, “How likely are you to leave your current job in the next 12 months?”, rated 1 to 10. It is measured at respondent level on up to 798 respondents, with the engagement-level form reported alongside.

Respondents who gave higher ratings reported lower intent to leave (r = −0.76, 95% CI −0.79 to −0.72, Holm p < 0.001, n = 755 respondents). The association held after Holm correction in thirty-seven of the 37 segment levels tested.

The four associations were compared in pairs on their engagement-level forms, each oriented so that a higher value is the better outcome, across the 150 engagements with all four measures. After Holm correction, five of the six pairs differed. The association with the engagement indicator mean was the strongest and the association with cancellation the weakest. The associations with customer satisfaction and the engagement indicator mean did not differ (Holm p = 0.231).

Answers clustered within engagements (ICC 0.60). Clustering reduced the 804 respondent answers to the equivalent of about 223 independent answers. Respondent-level intervals therefore used the cluster bootstrap. Respondent-level tests of intent to leave used standard errors that allow for clustering by engagement.

No association was equivalent to zero. Each of the four differed from zero. The detection floor shown is the study floor at 150 engagements. Intent to leave was tested on its effective sample size.

Each change was computed before rounding and may differ by 0.01 from the difference between the two printed values.

All 22 checks held. A check holds when its test falls on the same side of 0.05 as the primary test. Where the primary test falls below 0.05, the check must also keep the sign of the primary correlation. The thin-base check removes the engagements in any level of outsourcing model or process family with fewer than 30 engagements. Institution type is not used for that check, because every one of its levels has fewer than 30 engagements.

Each of the four measures was computed from data the indicator does not contain. Each result is therefore a finding and not an arithmetic consequence.

Each deviation was computed before rounding and may differ by 0.01 from the difference between the two printed values.

The comparison covered 150 engagements. The indicator departed from the study's typical pattern on intent to leave. Its association was stronger than the norm on intent to leave.

The response also addressed C018, on the respondent's own job happiness, C020, on the happiness of the extended team, and C024. It carried no theme.

About a quarter of all ratings of whether respondents were happier with their work than five years earlier fell in the distressed range (214 of 804 answers, 26.62%). The rating was associated with all four study measures, and every association held under each of the 22 robustness checks. Canceled engagements rated well below the three active stages (mean 3.6, n = 302 respondents).

The single written response is an anecdote. It describes an AI tool that took the repeated questions and left the respondent the cases that needed judgment.

The evidence is the reported experience of the vendor's delivery teams, collected in a single cross-section. The associations reported here are not causal.

Tests by respondent role and by vendor type treated respondents as independent. The section on clustering reports how far clustering within engagements reduced the information in respondent-level figures.

Customer management executives gave 2 answers, a base of anecdote strength.

Counts of written responses describe the respondents who wrote and not the study set of respondents. With one responses, the written evidence supports counts only and no statistic.