A survey conducted by Leadership Management Australasia (LMA) revealed that levels of enjoyment amongst country employees were significantly higher than those of city employees.

But despite the results, law firms in regional, rural and remote areas continue to struggle with attracting and retaining lawyers - an issue which is an ongoing concern for the legal profession.

According to the survey, 68 per cent of regional employees rate their job enjoyment as very high to high, compared to only 63 per cent of metro employees.

Further, 66 per cent of regional employees feel very highly or highly engaged with their organisation and its goals, compared to only 62 per cent of city workers.

The survey also found that regional job seeking activity is much lower than in metro Australia, and fewer regional employees have been told by their employers that there will be no pay rises in the near future.

Andrew Henderson, LMA's general manager, believes the results reflect the fact that regional organisations are more "people focused" than larger metropolitan organisations.

"People in regional areas, having developed their sense of community from having to deal with adversity and volatility over the years, have become more adept than capital metro areas in looking after the human side of human resources," he said.

The survey covered 30 key workplace topics and involved 28,000 leaders, managers and employees in metro and regional centres across all major industry sectors in Australia and New Zealand.