Live to work or work to live? How happy we are at work has an impact on our whole life. Here you can discover which factors make people happy in their job and who are the happiest employees.
How many people in Germany do you think struggle to get out of bed every day, because they have to go to a job, with which they are dissatisfied? According to a Manpower Group study in 2017 it is 45% – i.e. around 20 million people. Alarmingly many, in particular when one considers that we spend around 40 hours per week at work in an average full-time job and hence work takes up a large part of our lives.
This is What Makes People Happy in Their Job
But how does happiness even occur at work? Does happiness mean to pursue prestigious work, to earn a lot of money, or even to work as little as possible? Scientists of the London School of Economics and Political Science interviewed over 20,000 people in 160 countries to find out what makes them happy in their job and they gained some surprising findings.
Career Opportunities and Salary
Good performances should be recognised. However, if after years of effort the next career level is unattainable, employees become frustrated. Even though connections were identified between the sum, which arrives every month in the bank account and satisfaction of the employees, a higher salary increases the feeling of happiness at work only for a short period of time.
Good Working Atmosphere
Good social relationships between colleagues were identified as a big happiness factor. Conversations, meetings and joint meals were seen as very positive by employees as well as highly collaborative colleagues. A good social gathering creates happiness in the job. However, if unaddressed conflicts smoulder, then the mood may change.
Varied Tasks
Boredom and routine are real happiness killers. When employees can take on different tasks, use their skills and also learn new things, then the happiness barometer rises.
A Voice
Satisfied employees influence decisions within the company. If ideas and contributions are accepted, employees feel happy in their job.
Secure Employment
A particularly important factor was job security, independent of the sector people were working in. If employees have the feeling that they’re constantly threatened with dismissal, a lot of stress builds up, which prevents a feeling of happiness.
Work-Life-Balance
Probably the most surprising finding of the study was that work contributes to the happiness of people: On average, unemployed people were significantly more dissatisfied than those employees who were moderately happy in their job. Work can also make a significant contribution to the general satisfaction with life: We experience success and recognition, pay for our own living, enjoy social support and integration, realise objectives and give our life with work a rhythm. The equation is therefore not the more free time, the happier. Rather an ideal balance between life and spare time needs to be found. Enough freedom and capacities for family, friends, sport, relaxation and hobbies has to be created besides the job, so that work does not overshadow the non-working part of life.
The necessity of high flexibility when balancing work and the remaining life is also emphasised by Dr. Jens Baas, chairman of TK: “Thanks to modern means of communication, there are many opportunities for this. When employees also receive valued leadership, an existence- safeguarding perspective and the opportunity to balance work, child care and care, then they are also less under pressure.”
And how about your work-life balance? Do you find that you have enough time for your family? After a long day and a too short night, do you regularly go to the gym in the evenings with a grumbling stomach? Or go to a loud bar or birthday party, even though you called customers all day long and negotiated with suppliers?
For all those, who are not quite happy in their job and whose work-life-balance still needs some improvement, with an innovative platform for the deployment and distribution of applications and data, oneclick™ offers an ideal resource to design the transition between leisure time and work more flexible. Productivity, mobility as well as security are increased with digital workspaces and companies can offer their staff real work-life-balance – and therefore ensure that employees are happy in their job.
Sources:
- https://spielraum.xing.com/2016/08/sechs-thesen-fuer-mehr-glueck-im-beruf/
- https://www.stern.de/wirtschaft/job/glueck-im-job–studie-zeigt–wann-arbeit-gluecklich-macht-7440554.html
- https://www.manpowergroup.de/fileadmin/manpowergroup.de/170518_Studie_Jobzufriedenheit_2017.pdf
- http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1474.pdf
- http://www.spiegel.de/karriere/statistisches-bundesamt-die-deutschen-arbeiten-immer-mehr-a-1050139.html
- https://www.wiwo.de/erfolg/beruf/tk-gesundheitsreport-nicht-arbeit-stresst-sondern-die-bedingungen/8296526.html
- https://www.wiwo.de/erfolg/arbeitsfreude-welche-berufe-gluecklich-machen/7425254.html
Image sources:
- Rawpixel @ unsplash
- Artem Bali @ unsplash
- Tyler Nix @ unsplash
