Company mission/vision—what's that? Just 42 percent of employees said they know their organization's vision, mission, and values. TINYpulse called that "an alarmingly low number" and added, "Too many executives are not communicating and reinforcing their company's guiding principles and mission."

Message received, boss. My manager clearly outlines my role and responsibilities, said 82 percent. "At the day-to-day team level it seems that managers are able to effectively set expectations and accountability," commented TINYpulse.

Happiness is a warm co-worker. Employee happiness is 23.3 percent more correlated to co-worker relations than to boss relations. "There is a very strong correlation between employee happiness and their rating of co-workers with a .92 correlation coefficient compared to a .74 correlation coefficient between employee happiness and how they rate their direct supervisor," TINYpulse said. "Team play and collaboration are the top trait employees love about their co-workers."

Revive the suggestion box. TINYpulse recommended employers ought to be actively soliciting input from workers. "Organizations that don't promote employee suggestions are at an innovation disadvantage. Businesses that don't crowdsource innovation and suggestions from their employees are missing a huge opportunity."

That T-word again. Although the survey found that people tend to enjoy their jobs more when they like their co-workers, it also discovered that management transparency is one powerful tool in the hands of management that strongly influences job satisfaction. "This finding surprised us too, with management transparency coming in at an extremely high correlation coefficient of .93 with employee happiness. The cost of improving transparency is almost zero, but requires an ongoing dialogue between management and staff," TINYpulse said.