Being Happy At Work
Does it matter?
Only if you want to make more money, live longer and be a better spouse/parent/friend.
If you’re like most people, you spend a lot of time at work. And work doesn’t mean just “that other place” you go each morning. Work comes home. It chases you around on your phone via email. It invades your evening time as you “review” or check-up on things via your laptop, tablet or phone at night and on weekends.
So you love this arrangement, right?
Did you know that “happiness at work” used to mean something different from “happiness at home and in life?” Today it is well-understood that job satisfaction, general happiness and good feelings about life at work are closely tied to happiness in general. It used to be pushed aside as some squishy academic theory. Mostly because it was hard to measure and harder to act upon. No more.
Big corporations, smart business owners and great managers already know this. And not just in small sectors where there is a “talent war.” It’s time all workers figured out that their job performance, their relationships with spouses, children and others are completely tied to their feelings about work.
We all have good days and bad days at work, and at home in life. The only way to get perspective about this is to look outwards and see how what you’re experiencing “reflects” from the views of others. This is a scary process. Psychologists have built entire careers on it. Career coaches are great at it.
So are good, solid, smart friends. When it comes down to it, a bit of quiet personal time, spent reflecting on what is going on (at work and at home) can help a lot.
Are you in the right place (company, role) at the right time for you right now? How can you find out? If you’re lucky, you’re happy, and feel relatively good about your work situation. And if that’s true, you probably feel pretty good about life in general.
In that case, you’re probably also doing a great job at work. Here’s what the bosses have figured out (or are figuring out) about “happy workers” and why it’s not so squishy anymore:
Real research is showing that being happy makes you healthier, smarter, and even more valued. How valuable is a few more years of healthy living worth? According to Alexander Kjerulf, (http://bit.ly/GDpW9F) people working in happy environments tend to:
Be More Creative
Have more Energy
Be More Motivated
Make Fewer Mistakes
Make Better Decisions
Do you have that? If you don’t, don’t you want to have that?
Here are more non-squishy facts:
A 2005 research survey in the Psychological Bulletin showed happier people miss work less often and receive more positive evaluations from bosses. Wow, in most companies that means making more money….
Psychologist Martin Seligman suggests in his research that happiness leads to higher pay.. How valuable is a positive evaluation and a higher salary to your life at home and work?
What does this mean on a Sunday afternoon, as you figure out when to check email, review your work deadlines, carpool, music lessons, soccer/baseball and workout calendar for the upcoming week?
It means that being happy at work equals more money, better and stronger relationships with the people you love, and, not surprisingly, a longer life to enjoy the whole trip.
Kick your feet up today. Think about some reasons to be happy.
If you’re working, celebrate that first, because a lot of great people are still out of work.
Next, think about how much you enjoy your current job, and if you do, enjoy that.
Finally, if your present job “needs improvement” (to borrow a phrase), think of some burning questions and post them on our wall at WorkersCount’s Facebook page. “Like” the burning questions others have posted if they hit a nerve with you.
If you’re like us, you’ll find a quiet place to sit-out the rain in front of a fire, take a walk on the beach in with your dog, join a friend to watch a game. Or find a black diamond mountain full of fresh powder to shred. Go work out. Bake a pie. Learn how to bake a pie. Find a great place to sit with a friend and eat pie (after you work out).
What should you be doing today to recharge your batteries?
Let us know what you do! Post a photo on our Facebook page.