‘Choose a job you love
and you will never have to work a day in your life.'
Confucius
Many of us spend more waking
hours at work than at home, and so I thought that it is important to include
some posts about happiness at work and some related topics.
We have of course already
looked into the way that accomplishments contribute to our well-being in Aiming High: Accomplishments and Goals and we looked into the
difficult side of work in Don't Burn Out: Resilience At Work, which you may also wish
to review if you have a specific interest in occupational well-being. This
week’s post is complementing these previous ones, looking at some additional
factors positively influencing our work lives. As we spend so many hours at
work anyway, we may as well make the most of it!
The benefits of happiness at work
There
are many arguments for feeling good at work: It makes us more effective when
making decisions, and we tend to become more creative and have a better general
work performance. We also change our jobs less frequently. Happy workers also
tend to go over and beyond their formal duties and often have a general
positive effect on their colleagues and the business as a whole, elevating
general work moral and efficiency. And people who are happy at work also tend
to earn more money (although they are often not primarily motivated by money,
as you will find out below).1
As
discussed in last week’s post, optimism is highly associated with a high level of well-being, and
there is evidence that an optimistic attitude makes us more successful in
stressful jobs with frequent setbacks.2 Finally, an open and
optimistic attitude has also been identified as a factor protecting us from
burnout.3
Work and well-being
Happiness
at work is complex and could fill an entire blog on its own. One common mistake
we can make is to think that our work achievements are going to bring us
lasting happiness. Depending on our type of personality, it may be easy to
immerse ourselves in high-pressure jobs and get ‘hooked’ on goal attainment
while neglecting other aspects of our lives.4 Although accomplishments
are an important component to well-being and a fulfilled life, they are just
that: a component.5 Only the minority of us genuinely thrive on long
working hours, and it has been shown that an adequate work-life balance is
essential for a successful and productive long-term career.3,4
Apart
from accomplishments, what else does our well-being at work depend on? There
are many other different factors, including our specific profession or job
role, our colleagues, the general work conditions and organisational structure,
as well as the more peripheral factors, such as the length and type of our
commute to work.1
And
there is one other crucial factor: It has been shown that people who are happy,
positive and optimistic in their private lives are also usually happier at
work.1 As we have learned throughout the blog, our lifestyle, mindsets
and attitudes have a great impact on our general wellbeing, And so it turns out
that we can – at least to a large degree – influence our happiness at work, too.1-6
This
means that most of the posts throughout this year also apply to our
occupational well-being. However, the very basics of having sufficient
sleep/rest, adequate nutrition and exercise have been shown to be particularly
important to stay productive and happy at work.4 Some additional
more specific facts and tips are listed below.
Type of work-related attitude1
Our attitude to work has
a great impact on well-being and can be generally divided into three types:
- Job orientation: People who are job-orientated simply see their work as a way, which enables them to pay their bills. They may work hard for monetary incentives but leisure time remains most important to them, and they look forward to the end of each working day. Job-orientated people will generally just follow what they are told rather than bringing in a lot of initiative into their work.
- Career orientation: Career-orientated people are ambitious and see their work as a path to gain additional values. This is not necessarily just an increasing amount of money but may also be respect or status. They may enjoy work, although they still tend to think about leisure time and holiday a lot. Career-orientated people may take initiative in their work, but this is often to impress supervisors rather than for intrinsic motives.
- Calling orientation: People with calling orientation are generally passionate about their work. They see it as an opportunity to develop their talents and feel that they make an important contribution to other people or the world in general. They work hard because they find their work intrinsically rewarding, and tend to think about job-related things even outside formal working hours. And it is probably not surprising that these types of people tend to be happiest workers. This does not necessarily mean that they are workaholics and that they cannot have a good work-life balance, it just means that they love their work and genuinely like spending time there.
What
is important to point out is that the categories do not necessarily depend on
the type of job you have. For example, in any given occupation approximately
1/3rd of the people are calling orientated- not only teachers or doctors, but
also bus drivers, hospital administrators or financial administrators.
The
big difference between calling-orientated people and the other two categories
is that they tend to develop their job further and go beyond and above the call
of duty: they take on additional tasks, think about more efficient ways of
doing things, help their colleagues and take initiative to make changes around
their work-place to make it a more pleasant place for themselves and others.
So
adopting a calling orientation can help us to enhance our well-being at work,
and that of our colleagues. The following points may help with trying to become
more calling orientated.
Personality and personal strengths
Having
a job, which fits your inherent personality traits and strengths can certainly
be a key factor in long-term job satisfaction. For example, if you are extraverted and sociable,
you are likely to get on well in a job where you frequently have contact with lots
of different people. Our personalities and attitudes can also make us more
vulnerable to stress, particularly if we have perfectionistic and pessimistic
tendencies, which can make work in high-pressure and ‘high-defeat’ jobs more
difficult.2,4
Another
factor to consider are our signature
strengths. These are individual characteristics, which resonate with our
values and which give us a sense of meaning. Character strengths include for
example Fairness, Empathy, Leadership or Belief/Spirituality. As you may know
from personal experience, working at a place which is not corresponding to your
values, or where you may even even be forced to do something contrary to your values
can be highly demoralizing.
Conversely,
we can increase our well-being at work by consciously and regularly applying
our signature strengths.1,6,7 So gaining some clarity about the
strengths and values that we have, and how they relate to those of our employer
and/or our customers is an important step towards a fulfilled work life. You
can do a free signature strengths test at https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu or https://www.viacharacter.org (both free but
registration required).
Motivation and engagement
Closely
associated with the work-related attitude and values is the question of
motivation and engagement- this is what keeps us going. As these aspects are
not only very important but also slightly more complex, they will be discussed
in more detail in next week’s post. But briefly, following factors can
contribute to a higher level of motivation and engagement at work:
- Intrinsic motivation: This means that we find our activity directly rewarding, meaningful and/or pleasurable, rather than relying on external rewards such as money or approval by other people.4,6,8
- Having a sense of autonomy.8
- Experiencing mastery and flow: Mastering a task and increasing our skills gives us a sense of increased control over our environment. If we have the right match between our skill and the task, we experience flow. Experiencing flow means being so deeply absorbed in an activity that we lose the sense of time and self-consciousness. Both mastery and flow make us feel good and directly contribute to our well-being.4,8
So
by trying to actively savour moments at work, which we experience as rewarding
and meaningful, by seeking autonomy wherever possible and by cultivating
mastery, as well as accepting and seeking appropriate challenges, we can
increase our well-being- more on this will follow next week.
Keep connected
Our
general well-being stands and falls with the relationships to other people. And so building good relationships
to our work colleagues is an essential component to happiness at work. However,
it has been traditionally often suggested it is very important to safeguard our
self-interest and that selfish behaviour may be the key to professional
success.1 Contrary to this, recent scientific research has shown
that selfish and self-focused attitudes and behaviours makes people actually often
less successful in the long run. The reasons for this are multifold but include
that the best results are usually
achieved by positive team dynamics, which foster a supportive and creative environment.4,7 Additionally, positive and trusting relationships to
other people (rather than interactions characterised by resentment, competition
or suspicion) are good for our health.4,5,7
You can foster positive relationships at work for example by performing small acts of kindness (doing a little
favour for a co-worker or giving somebody a heart felt compliment), showing gratitude and thanking somebody if they
have helped you, by not participating in
(negative) gossip, having a compassionate and respectful attitude and by being generally mindful when communicating with others. Of course you may find it
easier to connect with some colleagues than others, but it may be helpful
decrease the frequency for negative work interactions. You may find some tips
and hints for this in the posts No
Need To Shout: Dealing With Difficult People 1 and No
Need To Should: Dealing With Difficult People 2.
What can employers do?1
Good
employers strive to improve the well-being of their employees, not only to
optimize productivity, but also to reduce staff turnover, which tends to be
very costly. Businesses which are able to inspire their employees and make them
enthusiastic about their work not only end up with happier employees, but they
also tend to become more successful. This is primarily achieved by recognizing
the strengths of individual workers, and allowing the employees to express
these strengths.
Of
course there is no one-fits-all ideal of an organization, as it very much
depends on the field of work, and type of workplace. However, following
organisational factors for high employee well-being have been identified:
- Providing opportunities for personal control: This is because we feel best if our work allows us to have some discretion over how to deal with problems, how to apply our skills best and if we have some input on outcomes.
- Allowing for a variety of tasks: As having a largely repetitive job with little variety can clearly be very boring and unsatisfying, allowing employees a greater degree of variety increases well-being.
- Supportive supervisors: Supervisors can make a big difference to employee well-being. Specifically supervisory who are approachable, who show an active interest in the well-being and development of their workers, and who provide regular feedback contribute to happiness at work. While regular positive feedback is most important, giving employees an idea on areas they may improve in is also helpful, as it provides the employee with orientation.
- Respect and status: Working in a highly respected position can increase our self-esteem. But it is not only about the jobs at the top. The best organisations are the ones, which treat all employees, including the lower status staff, with respect and which recognize the contribution each individual co-worker brings to the company.
- Fair (but not necessarily the best) pay and non-monetary benefits: Of course it is important that we are able to live a decent life on the money that we earn from our job- something more and more people are finding to be a challenge nowadays. So fair wages and salaries are a very important contributor to life satisfaction. However, as explained above, some people are less motivated by money than others. Once a certain minimum requirement is covered, some people find the benefits of a challenging and meaningful work, and a supportive team of colleagues more important than the financial compensation alone.
- Clear requirements and guidelines how to meet them: Businesses and organisations experienced as ‘good’ by their workforce are ones, which have clear policies and guidelines. These include job descriptions, adequate training and simple performance targets. Clear instructions on what is expected of us and how to achieve it are an important contributor to well-being at work, as this gives us easy-to-understand goals and targets. On the contrary, very loose structures and unclear targets are counterproductive as they tend to increase anxiety and insecurity of employees and decrease performance.
In summary, if we
understand what is asked of us, we are aware of the special skills that we
bring to the job, if we get positive feedback and experience our job as
meaningful, receive social support from co-workers and have all the tools available
to perform at our best, we are more likely to be satisfied and happy at work. If
we merely look for the best salary but ignore our interests, skills and values,
it is unlikely that we experience job satisfaction in the long run. If we want
to improve our happiness at work, we should try to adopt a calling-orientation
and commit to giving the very best to our job. Thinking about our work as
something we enjoy doing rather than obligation may be very helpful.
Preview: As promised, next week
is going to be all about how to increase our motivation, engagement and how to find
flow.
References and further reading:
1. Diener
E, Biswas-Diener R. Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth.
Blackwell Publishing; Oxford, UK. 2008.
2. Seligman
MEP. Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life. Vintage Books;
New York. 2006.
3.
Wiens KJ. Leading Through Burnout: The Influence Of Emotional Intelligence
On The Ability Of Executive Level Physician Leaders To Cope With Occupational
Stress And Burnout [Dissertation]. University of Pennsylvania. 2016.
4. Seppälä
E. The Happiness Track: How to Apply the Science of Happiness to Accelerate
Your Success. Piatkus; London, UK. 2016.
5. Seligman
MEP. Flourish: A New Understanding of Happiness and Well-Being- and How to
Achieve Them. Nicholas Brealey Publishing; London, UK. 2011.
6. Lyubomirsky
S. The Myths of Happiness: What should make you happy but doesn’t, what
shouldn’t make you happy but does. Penguin Books; New York. 2013.
7. Fredrickson
B. Positivity: Groundbreaking Research to Release Your Inner Optimist and
Thrive. Oneworld Publications; Oxford, England. 2010.
8. Pink DH. Drive: The Surprising Truth about what Motivates Us.
Canongate Books; Edinburgh, UK. 2009.
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