ALERT: Jobseekers are being fraudulently contacted by scammers. Click here for more details.
How can we be happier at work?
8 min read | Laura Kemp | Article | | Wellbeing
Do you ever stop to think about how much of our lives we spend working? When you add it all up, about a third of our lives are devoted to our jobs. That’s an incredible amount of time by any reckoning, especially if you’re feeling stressed, bored, or emotionally detached, as a recent report would suggest.
Sadly, according to this data, work is not a happy place for many. Almost one in five UK professionals report feeling angry at work – an increase on the previous year and higher than the European average – while 90% feel disengaged, and unenthused about their job. A further 38% report feeling all-day stress. So why is the baseline for workplace happiness so painfully low? And what can we do to live more fulfilled professional lives?
It’s possible that this disaffection regarding our professional lives stems from several myths that we implicitly believe about work. Namely, that it has to be punishing and laborious, that how we feel about it is irrelevant – after all, it’s called ‘work’ for a reason – and that we cannot ask or hope for more from it. This mindset is, of course, not only bad for us, but bad for businesses. When we are miserable and disengaged, we’re much less likely to give of our best, with some studies showing that happy employees are up to 20% more productive than unhappy ones. Being happy and fulfilled in your work, it seems, benefits everyone.
Of course, there’s no waving a magic wand when it comes to achieving happiness. It’s an emotional state that’s shaped by a myriad of inconstant and unpredictable intersecting influences, some that relate to our external circumstances and others that come from within us. But when it comes to being fulfilled professionally, we shouldn’t just accept the status quo. We deserve better – and should feel able to ask for it. It can be difficult to know where to start, but there are some adjustments that you can make to your mindset in a bid to redefine what happiness and success at work actually means:
Over-promising and under-delivering is a sure-fire way to make you feel demotivated. Being realistic about what you can actually get done in a single day – and overachieving on that – is much more likely to give you a sense of accomplishment.
Remember that what a successful day looks like is highly subjective to you as an individual, and what’s deemed a positive outcome may look different depending on the person. For this reason, it’s better not to benchmark your achievements with those of anyone else – the surest way to be fulfilled in your work is to aim for what you want to get out of your job, not what you think you should want to get out of it.
“Remember that what a successful day looks like is highly subjective to you as an individual, and what’s deemed a positive outcome may look different depending on the person.”
When did seniority at work become a measure of ambition? Professional success has long equated to climbing as far up the ladder as you can – a perception that’s changing. The drama and politics that’s often associated with the climb to the top means that it isn’t right for everyone, and there’s no guarantee that hard work alone will get you there anyway.
There is nothing wrong with ambition in itself – it’s what drives the progress and momentum we need to keep evolving. For some people, this progress will look linear, others may find happiness in a lateral move or in helping create the right conditions for others to succeed. Whatever the trajectory looks like, it doesn’t have to be motivated by status and money – it might be a desire to make a difference and have an impact.
If a third of our lives is to be spent at work, it likely isn’t going to be enough to just be focused on our own happiness and success alone. Building relationships, helping others reach their potential and creating personal meaning and finding purpose in our work is being highlighted as increasingly important to our intrinsic fulfilment.
If the exact nature of the meaning you want to create is eluding you, then take it back to basics and reflect honestly on what you care about. Ask yourself: What are my values? What motivates me? How do I want to contribute? You don’t need to be saving lives for work to be meaningful, but it’s worth reminding yourself why and how the work you do affects other people.
One of the most common misconceptions about success at work is that it’s only measured by external criteria: money and prestigious titles, for example. But enduring success is characterised by work that’s accomplished in pursuit of something that’s important to you – with the support of others who share your goals.
Though salary increases and promotions are part and parcel of career progression – and can provide short-term satisfaction – they alone don’t contribute to our own sense of personal growth and fulfilment over a long period. If we’re to be happy at work, we need to recognise where the restrictions are in our environment, and figure out how to map our way through them, rather than change them. This means proactively taking control of our own career direction, whether that’s asking to work on a project that interests you, investigating sideways opportunities at your organisation, or moving on to pastures new.
If you’re thinking about looking for a new, more rewarding role in the near future, then check out our latest vacancies – we add new ones daily.
Laura Kemp, Director, Hays
Laura has been with Hays since 2000 and a Director since 2020. She now heads up our specialist recruitment and advisory services in Yorkshire and the Humber, and is particularly invested in leveraging partnerships with charities and education authorities to map local career pathways for young people.
