If you were to rate how happy you feel at work on a scale of 1-10, what score would you choose? If you’re in the majority, your score might be on the lower end of the scale - Indeed’s most recent work wellbeing report found that less than a third of the workforce feel happy at work most of the time, and recent trends such as “quiet quitting” or “The Great Resignation” signal that things aren’t as rosy as they could be.

But does that matter? Is it unrealistic to expect to enjoy our jobs? How do we define happiness at work? And how can we find more of it? That’s what we’re going to dive into in this post…

Happiness at work: the what, the why and the how

What does happiness at work look like?

According to Action for Happiness, only 2% of us are happy to go to work solely to pay the bills, and 90% of us say that being happy at work is important. But, what is happiness at work and how is it measured? For a long time, happiness at work was assumed to be the same as job satisfaction, but recent research has shown that there are more variables involved. The things that are seen as key to happiness at work include:

Feeling engaged in your work - you’ll likely be challenged and have the opportunity to grow and develop, and will enjoy your work most of the time.
Feeling valued by your organisation or clients - you’ll feel like your efforts make an impact and will be recognised for your contributions.
Feeling connected to your colleagues or clients - you’ll feel part of something bigger than just yourself.
Having a sense of meaning and purpose - your work will align with your values and provide you with an intrinsic sense of fulfilment.

Of course, you might not experience all of these things all day everyday, but people who report being happy at work experience these feelings more than they don’t.

Why is happiness at work important?

Now that we’ve defined happiness at work, the next question to explore is why is it important? Of course, we’d all love to enjoy our jobs, but are there benefits to being happy at work over and above just the day-to-day satisfaction? The research suggests that the answer is an overwhelming YES.

Here are some of the key benefits of being happy at work:

Happy workers are 13% more productive than unhappy workers according to research conducted by the University of Oxford.
Happiness at work is linked to greater career success and faster career advancement, according to a study involving almost a million people.
People who report being happy at work are more resilient and better able to cope with stress.
Happiness at work is linked to improved physical and mental health outcomes.
Happy workers are more creative and innovative, and also work better with their teammates and colleagues, which in turn contributes to greater success and productivity.
Feeling satisfied at work is linked with greater confidence.
Finally, happiness at work is a significant factor in how happy we feel in our overall lives - if you’ve ever felt unhappy at work, you’ll know how quickly that feeling spills over to other parts of your life.

Put simply, if you want to advance in your career, protect your health and improve your overall well-being, feeling happy at work is key.

How can you find more happiness at work?

So, if happiness at work is so important, how can you find more of it? Research in the field of positive psychology has shown that there are tangible and practical things you can do to up your enjoyment factor.

Here are some evidence-based strategies you might like to try…

Connect

Studies have shown that the greatest predictor of our overall happiness is our relationships, so it makes sense that fostering positive relationships with our colleagues would help us to find more satisfaction at work. You don’t have to be best friends with your teammates, but having a sense of camaraderie and feeling connected can make a real difference to your overall experience of work.

Support your colleagues, show an interest in their lives, attend socials or team building sessions (or volunteer to organise them if they don’t already exist) - even a small increase in connection should make you feel happier at work.

Use your strengths

So often at work we’re encouraged to identify and work on fixing our weaknesses, but there’s a large body of research that shows focusing on and harnessing our strengths is actually better for our overall well-being and happiness. Plus, using your strengths more at work is also linked with increased productivity and performance.

If you’re not sure what your strengths are, ask around - it’s often easier for other people to spot them. You could also consider which tasks or activities make you feel most energised, as this is often a sign that you’re using a strength.

Find meaning

Finding a sense of meaning and purpose in our work is positively correlated with job satisfaction, engagement and performance, so getting clear on how your work makes an impact should help you to feel happier. Try to get clear on the value you add and how your efforts contribute to the bigger picture - you can speak to your manager about this if you’re struggling to identify it for yourself.

And if you feel as though your job lacks meaning and purpose, maybe come at this one from a different angle - what meaning does your work add to your wider life? For example, perhaps it gives you a structure and routine, provides security or allows you to develop your skill set.

Focus on the good

When we’re stuck in a rut at work it’s easy to find ourselves in a negative mindset, focusing on all of the things that are wrong or feel challenging, but a quick way to find more happiness at work is to focus on the good. You might do this by celebrating your wins and progress, listing the parts of your job you do enjoy or thinking about everything you’ve learned since you took on the role.

Another great way to reconnect with the positives is to cast your mind back and remember what excited you about the job when you first started it - chances are those things still apply, but you might have lost sight of them over time.

Keep learning

You might think that the learning stops when you leave school, but there’s evidence to suggest that being a lifelong learner can help you to access more joy at work. Learning something new helps us to feel accomplished, which can create positive emotions, and in addition to that, researchers have found that we can only enter flow states (a sense of being in the zone and immersed in a feeling of energised focus that is known to produce intense feelings of enjoyment) when we are working on something with an adequate level of challenge.

Putting yourself forward for a training course, saying yes to a new project or shadowing someone in a different team can all be great ways of stretching yourself so that you can feel happier at work.

Some coaching questions to help you find more happiness at work

If you’re looking to find more joy in your career, here are some coaching questions that might be useful. You could use them as journaling prompts, writing out your answers in a notebook, discuss them with friends, or simply reflect on what shows up for you.

How happy would you say you currently are at work?
How does your current level of happiness at work impact your wider life?
What do you think is holding you back from being your happiest self at work?
What changes could you implement in order to experience more joy in your career?
What support do you need to put those changes into place?

Happiness at Work: the What, the Why and the How