The 5th World Happiness Report 2017 was recently released by the United Nations as an insight into pubic health and economic prosperity. Happiness is increasingly considered the proper measure of social progress and the goal of public policy.
The report gives special attention to the social foundations of happiness for individuals and nations by surveying 3,000 respondents in each of 155 countries to a question asking them to evaluate their current lives on a 0-10 scale, where 0 represents the worst life possible and the 10 the best possible for 6 main variables, namely: GDP per Capita, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, generosity and absence/perception of corruption.
Tanzania ranked at the bottom of the ladder – 153rd out of 155 countries. While there are discussions, debates and speculations around this result, this article focuses on the role of workplace in promoting happiness – happy employees are more productive. Since the majority of people spend almost 60% of their waking hours at workplaces, it is important to gain an understanding of the role of employment and the workplace play in shaping happiness for employees and communities.
The World Happiness Report 2017 presents interesting findings:
- People with a job evaluate the quality of their lives much more favorably then those who are unemployed
- The importance of having a job extends far beyond the salary attached to it, with aspects of employment such as social status, social relations, daily structure, and goals exert a strong influence on happiness
- Labor intensive industries such as construction, mining, manufacturing, transport, farming, fishing and forestry correlated with lower levels of happiness
- Work-life balance is a strong predictor of people’s happiness
- Factors such as job variety, need to learn new things, level of individual autonomy employee plays, job security and social capital – which is support one receives from fellow workers are positively correlated with happiness
- Jobs that involve risks to health and safety are generally associated with lower levels of subjective wellbeing
In fact, the employed evaluated the quality of their life around 0.6 point higher on average as compared to the unemployed on a scale fro 0 – 10. Individuals who are unemployed report approximately 30% more negative experiences as compared to employed individuals.
Researchers from the University of Warwick in the UK found that people who are happy at work are 12% more productive. Shawn Anchor’s article titled “The Happiness Dividend” in the Harvard Business Review quantifies the benefits of a happy company – sales increase by 37%, productivity 31% and task accuracy improves by 19%, not to mention the health and quality of life improvements for staff. Gallup research states that perks are less important than engagement – results and relationships are usually the most important factors for ensuring people are happy at work.