Member Article

Is happiness the key to career success?

January is the month when we really feel the post-Christmas chill and reasons to be cheerful seem few and far between. Factors including the weather, debt, time since Christmas, failing our new year’s resolutions, low motivational levels and the feeling of a need to take action, all conspire to make this the most miserable month of the working year. However, help is at hand to get you through the so called month of misery.

The iOpener Institute for People and Performance gathered and analysed over 30,000 management interviews as part of a study of current employee productivity levels. A key finding of the study was that sectors and countries with the highest levels of productivity also performed strongly in the measurements of Happiness at Work. Broad correlations between Happiness at Work and productivity are recognised by numerous sources. Some governments have even started to compile ‘Happiness’ indices, in recognition of this correlation. But by understanding the individual components of Happiness at Work, organizations can build their productivity strategies much more effectively.

So how do we measure happiness at work? And why does it matter?

Happiness at Work can be accurately measured by breaking it down into identifiable key components. Positive factors include recognition, respect, and time on task. Negative factors cover areas such as likelihood of leaving or sick days. Our research has found that these components combine to make up five broad drivers that underpin Happiness at Work:

Contribution

This is about what you do, so it’s made up of some of the core activities which happen at work. Like having clear goals, moving positively towards them, talking about issues that might prevent you meeting your objectives and feeling heard when you do so. You’ll do all this best when you feel appreciated and valued by your boss and your colleagues. So it’s not just about delivering: it’s about doing that within collaborative working relationships too.

Conviction

This is the short-term motivation both in good times and bad. That’s the key point: keeping going even when things get tough, so that you maintain the resources which pull you through. Key to doing this is feeling that you’re resilient, efficient and effective. In fact, our data clearly shows that we’re much more resilient than we are aware but we’re much less aware of how variable our motivation is and how to manage it. But actively deciding to do this can make a huge difference.

Culture

Performance and happiness at work are really high when employees feel they fit within their organizational culture. Not fitting in a job is like wearing the wrong clothes to a party – all the time. So it’s hugely draining and de-energizing. If you’re in the wrong job, you’ll find that the values mean little to you, the ethos feels unfair or political and you don’t have much in common with your colleagues.

Commitment

Commitment matters because it taps into the macro reasons of why you do the work you do. Some of the underlying elements of commitment are perceiving you’re doing something worthwhile, having strong intrinsic interest in your job, and feeling that the vision of your organization resonates with your purpose.

We’ve seen commitment decline for the majority of employees post-recession as leaders and organizations think that tuning into this soft stuff is a waste of time. It isn’t. It’s how you enable your employees to understand why they should make a greater discretionary effort for you.

Confidence

Confidence is the gateway to the other four drivers. Too little confidence and nothing happens: too much leads to arrogance and particularly poor decisions. Without greater levels of self-belief, the backbone of confidence, there will be few people who’ll take a risk or try anything new. And you can’t have confident organizations without confident individuals inside them.

And why does Happiness at Work matter?

By investigating the components of happiness work we can start to assess the full impact that happiness (or lack of) has on productivity. Our findings show that the happiest employees take one tenth the sick leave of their least happy colleagues, are six times more energized, intend to stay twice as long in their organizations, and are twice as productive. Improving levels of contribution, conviction, culture, commitment and confidence, will ensure that employees are at their most productive and will contribute more to the growth of the organization.

Once organizations understand their own performance within the various areas of Happiness at Work, they can look to address where they are falling behind, and as a result, boost levels of productivity.

Julia Lindsay is Joint CEO of the iOpener Institute for People and Performance.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Julia Lindsay .