The Missing Ingredient for Happiness at Work

When employees feel disconnected from their work and are unhappy at work, it is not necessarily or 100% the employer's fault. Happiness at work, or subjective well-being, as psychology prefers to call it, depends on both the employer and employee. Employees also play a role in their happiness and in the success of the employer's subjective well-being programmes. This article focuses on what employees can do to further their own workplace happiness in addition to their employer's measures and programmes. 

Let's look first at some aspects of employee happiness or subjective well-being as a result of the employer's efforts.

The results of a 2021 survey conducted by the American Psychological Association involving 1501 respondents showed that 71% of respondents reported experiencing work-related stress during the workday, which reduced their subjective well-being (happiness) at work, and these people were more likely to seek a new position outside the company.

A study involving 46,000 workers across more than 200 companies, carried out by Oxford University in 2024, found that the most common well-being programmes had very little influence on employee well-being. On the other hand, volunteering opportunities, such as mentoring a colleague, covering for someone in crisis or engaging in local charity work, consistently improved workers' sense of belonging and purpose, reduced stress and boosted engagement, increasing their subjective well-being. However, these initiatives might not address fundamental aspects of workplace well-being.

These findings inspired me to reflect on who is responsible for the employees' happiness at work. While employers have an important share of the responsibility for creating a workplace culture and conditions that nurture both well-being and productivity, employees should also take responsibility for their own happiness at work.

Employee well-being can be supported by the employer, for example, through

• Clearly communicating organisational values, mission and goals.
• Creating an organisational culture that fosters fairness, cooperation, support, autonomy, flow of information, recognition of performance, participation, etc.
• Leadership training for adopting servant and transformational leadership styles.
• Stress-reduction programmes.
• The creation of a safe work environment.
• Job redesign.
• Flexible work schedules and locations.
• Investing in employees' professional development and offering professional and career growth opportunities.
• The provision of comprehensive wellness programmes.

Of course, employers can make mistakes during the implementation of well-being programmes and hinder their effectiveness. 

On the other hand, happiness at work is unique to each person (the term "subjective well-being" catches its essence very well), depending on their personality, skills, mindset, expectations, emotional intelligence, behaviours, actions, etc. While employers play an important role in fostering employee happiness by creating the necessary environment, culture and management, each employee is responsible for their own happiness. This idea is also supported by the research carried out by psychologist Sonya Lyubomirsky and team, about 50% of our happiness is determined by genetics, 10% by environment and 40% by our intentional actions. 

Even if everything is in place for employees' well-being, some employees might not feel happy due to their own mindset, actions and behaviours, although few are ready to admit it.

• In the case of the physical environment, safety measures have the desired effect only if employees observe them.
• The same is true for emotional safety. If someone cannot regulate their own emotions and explodes in anger over small issues, takes everything personally, no leadership style will help.
• If employees do not express their needs, not even when they are asked, the manager cannot take them into account, even if they would like to.
• If an employee has a negative attitude toward everything at work, grumbles about problems and blames others, nothing will be good enough for such a person. 

What can an employee do within the 40% that depends on the person and can be influenced by the person? For example,

• Develop a positive attitude toward work.
• Eliminate limiting beliefs and replace them with positive ones to reframe certain situations, dare to take action, learn from experience, etc.
• Develop their assertiveness to express their needs, put forward suggestions, offer solutions to problems, etc.
• Learn to manage their emotions.
• Improve their communication and work relationships.
• Increase their resilience to cope with challenges.
• Develop their professional skills to match job requirements and be able to perform tasks at the highest level.
• Recognise and celebrate their own achievement and progress, and don't wait for the outside world to recognise them, although outside recognition is also important.
• Be organised and present; focus on the task ahead.

Recognise when the work environment and job are incompatible with their values and purpose, or don't further their needs for professional growth or emotional safety and start preparing to change jobs.

What can you do and what can you change in your mindset, behaviour and actions to be happier at work? 

If you feel unhappy at work and don't know what to do about it, book a 30-minute free Clarity Call to explore your situation and possible solutions forward.