Why Being Happy at Work Is Important
Should We Be Happy at Work?
Happiness is essential for individuals' full growth and well-being in their daily pursuit of life. As in ordinary life, happiness in the workplace creates a sense of rationality and a holistic perspective. This allows time for creativity and innovations by individuals which ultimately could benefit organizations. Also, happiness can foster positive work environments which can help to build effective teams and enhance positive work relations. A positive work environment leads to increased productivity.
The concept of being happy was previously seen as an eventual by-product of some other undertaking, but modern trends seem to focus more on the deliberate pursuit of happiness in life, workplaces and other settings. Countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), such as New Zealand, are making significant efforts in their budgetary allocations to ensure the promotion of well-being and happiness amongst their citizens, as observed by the World Economic Forum in 2018. The prime minister of New Zealand indicated that this was a core aspect of her government policy. This is indicative of the need for happiness amongst people in general and even more so happiness in the workplace, where most people spend considerable time throughout the day and week.
Similarly, large companies from all kinds of sectors are increasingly becoming concerned with the need to promote and encourage happiness and the pursuit of happiness at work to improve productivity and promote a proper work-life balance, which is essential for business growth. Companies in the tech industry, like Google, are striving to create happiness at work. These efforts have well been supported by researchers from respected institutions like Warwick University, who found significant outcomes of employee happiness in the workplace. As did the University of Tennessee in similar studies.
This brings the question of what happiness at work entails. While this question can be answered in multiple ways and could mean different things to different people, it is nonetheless clear that happiness at work entails a positive state of mind for employees and a positive work environment. This is especially important given that most people generally spend a large part of their adult life at work.
Conclusion
Why is happiness at work important to consider?
Happiness at work leads to happy employees, and happy employees are productive employees whose contribution to the development and growth of organizations is significant. Happiness also creates a sense of safe psychological workspaces for employees to work in a conducive work environment that promotes well-being. The importance of happiness at work cannot be emphasized enough.
