{"id":5884,"date":"2014-08-05T15:32:02","date_gmt":"2014-08-05T15:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/insideintercom.io\/?p=5884"},"modified":"2020-07-30T13:03:54","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T12:03:54","slug":"why-happiness-at-work-really-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/why-happiness-at-work-really-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Why happiness at work really matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you happy at work? Are the people you work with happy? Should you even care as long as the job is getting done?<\/p>\n

It turns out you should – happy companies are more successful on a range of metrics – but creating a happy work environment is counterintuitive. Research and practice both show that what makes people happy in the workplace is not obvious, and relatively easy to provide things like good pay, free food or perks, are over-rated.<\/p>\n

The benefits of happiness at work<\/h2>\n

Researchers from the University of Warwick in the UK found<\/a> that people who are happy at work are about 12% more productive. Shawn Anchor, author of The Happiness Advantage<\/a>, has quantified the benefits<\/a> of a happy company – sales increase by 37%, productivity 31%, and accuracy on tasks improves by 19%, not to mention the health and quality of life improvements for staff.<\/p>\n

You might think providing perks such as free food, massages in the office, on-site medical services and gym facilities, would ensure a happy workforce. Google has led the way in perks for some time, even ensuring its building designs are fun.<\/p>\n

But the equation is not that simple – it\u2019s not just a case of perks in, happiness out. While such benefits are helpful in attracting people to work at your firm, they are not that effective at improving company performance. No wonder Google is keen to stress that it’s passion not perks<\/a> that are the biggest contributor to its success.<\/p>\n

Part of the problem is that humans are incredibly good at adapting and we get used to almost anything – good or bad. The classic study<\/a> on this was done by Philip Brickman, Dan Coates and Ronnie Janoff-Bulman at the University of Massachusetts in 1979. Comparing lottery winners to accident survivors who were paraplegics and quadriplegics they found no significant different in general happiness. People who had won big on the lottery were happy about their good fortune but in fact took less pleasure from everyday activities than the accident survivors.<\/p>\n

Salary is not the key<\/a> to happiness either. It actually comes in to play as a factor of unhappiness – we will be unhappy if we think others in our company or industry are being paid more to do the same task.<\/p>\n

A Princeton study<\/a> found that people who are highly paid are relatively satisfied but are barely happier day to day, tend to be more tense and do not spend their time doing more enjoyable things, than lower paid people.<\/p>\n

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Alexander Kjerulf, a Danish management consultant (above) who styles himself the Chief Happiness Officer<\/a> and has advised Ikea, Lego, Oracle, Tata, and Pfizer amongst others, says that results and relationships are actually the most important factors for ensuring people are happy at work. Gallup research backs him up – perks are less important than engagement<\/a>, which occurs when staff feel they are contributing to something significant.<\/p>\n

My org chart for happiness: pic.twitter.com\/XAue2UCXqv<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Craig Shapiro (@cshapiro) July 1, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n