People used to believe that you don’t need to be happy at work to succeed. And you don’t need to like the people you work with, or even share their values. “Work is not personal,” they said.
If you’re like every other employee, you might be burning 8+ hours a day that means 48+ hours a week. Of course, this is a huge chunk of your time, and you probably want to spend it in an enjoyable manner. But, right now not everyone is happy at work.
Is it unreasonable to expect that the majority of employees should be the happy ones?
Well, Pursuing happiness at work is a mandatory belief. Work can be a little stressful, but that doesn’t mean that happiness cannot be achieved. It might seem difficult to attain. But it is the responsibility of both employees and employers to avoid burnout and maximize productivity to work in an environment where everyone can thrive and grow.
A survey conducted by Teem – a workplace analytics company revealed that out of 1,300 professionals, more than 48% reported as unhappy or “somewhat happy” at work. Among the other factors, work-life balance is around 48%, feeling unappreciated is 46% and 49% are using communication tools that force them to respond whether they want to or not.
The days of the 2008 money crisis where employers thought their employees ought to simply be grateful to have a job are long gone. Employees today have choices—lots of them. According to the Staples Annual Workplace Survey, 80% of workers believe that employers have a responsibility to keep their employees mentally and physically well.
Happy workers grow company value. According to a study by Willis, Towers and Perrin, it was found that higher employee engagement, productivity and morale contributes to major financial returns and competitive advantages. A contented employee performs better, have closer relationships with co-workers, and take more pride in their work than their less-jubilant counterparts. “When people are more enthusiastic about their job, they invest more time and energy into their work,” says Hallie Crawford.
On the flipside, unhappiness at work can be expensive. 60-80% of workplace accidents are caused due to stress. And workplace stress has been linked to health problems ranging from metabolic syndrome to heart disease and death. And we all know how miserable and costly a bad boss can be. It is even worse when an employee turns out to be disengaged because they will infect others with their low-esteem and attitude. Their mindset and emotions will impact others’ mood and performance tremendously. After all, thought influences emotion and emotion influences thinking.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Network has been announcing a World Happiness Report since 2012 till date. The report contemplates the global happiness showing how happy their residents are in 156 countries. The survey details happiness and its evolution over the past many years—with a focus on technology, social ethics and values, conflicts and government policies that have driven those changes.
According to 2019 report, with the value ranging from 0 to 10, Finland tops the happiness rank scoring 7.7 while South Sudan appears at the bottom with a score of 2.8. Out of 156 countries, Nepal stands at 100th position with a score of 4.9.
Well, working has become a part of our lives. Being annoyed and irritated after a long day of hard work is considerable. But this urge of negativity might not even occur to you if you find your work interesting enough. Getting deeply engrossed into work results in better productivity and the interest will only be provoked when you show happiness at workplace.
Being happy with your work matters! And following are the reasons why:
When you work in a happy mood at your workplace it gives a sense of satisfaction and ultimately results in benefits both the organization and the individual. You will love everything that comes to your forefront and will be able to put the best effort in that work. Employees are also obliged to feel like they’re creating an impact on the company, which means they need to see the results of their work.
You will not shift to other place easily as the satisfaction level will be more at your present job. Your work is so much more than just a regular paycheck; it’s a place you go to improve your skill set, contribute to the greater good, and collaborate with other awesome colleagues.
Needless to say, the more you’re satisfied with your job, more you will be happy and vice-versa.
A recent survey of happiness found that a sense of empowerment, which means, employees can make some decisions on their own—improves work happiness. Better decisions means making to the final with full confidence and reliable facts and figures in it. If you are enjoying your work in a happy manner then you are obviously able to make decisions at your best.
Happy workers are more enthusiastic to work together for the common good, more likely to encourage company loyalty, and build up a stronger team that is vital to your company’s success
A single happy person is able to bring revolution in the environment of the office and that revolution is in a positive manner. Positive attitude is the realm of the prime solution. The atmosphere becomes lively and the work pace of every person in office enhances which although is a good sign for both the office and the employers working there.
Meanwhile, if you are not positive and tensed, you will ultimately affect the work. Therefore, to restrain your negativity, all you need to do is grasp a handful of your future vision and start fresh with a positive mindset.
In order to learn anything, you need to have a strong, attentive and active brain as all these virtues are likely to make you a good learner but apart from the technical glitch, the emotion of happiness is likely to give an added advantage in your work.
If you are happy at your job, you will feel good in everything you encounter or else you will concentrate your mind on other unrequired things which will certainly bring boredom to what you do.
You are surely not going to worry anymore if happiness is your best friend and if it is not, you are just attracting more of saddened devil in you which is likely to destroy everything relating to you like your work, your nature, your attitude towards work and what not. The list is endless. You will make fewer mistakes and in case you do, you will concentrate on improving it next time. So, it is also one of the merits of happiness at work.
Inner happiness never let you fall ill. It always boosts your confidence level and brings in you a certain kind of responsibility as well as credibility in what you perform.
Happiness works as a catalyst for working and gives you immense energy during you works. When you are energized, you work in a better and effective manner. This is something next to awesome.
Finding joy in your work yields a perfect result and this is undoubtedly the need of an hour.
While you work, you have to muster up the energy to deal with all sorts of hurdles and barriers. This will be done only when you have the positive attitude towards what you do. Also efficient employees are always welcomed.
Hence, the driving factor for happiness comes down to good relationships which creates higher levels of engagement and collaboration, allowing lively and resilient organization to emerge. Investing in happiness begins and ends with strong internal relationships between employees and employers built on a foundation of genuine communication.
To this end, Being Happy Matters!!