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Assessing Happiness at Work

Dr. Raj Raghunathan | Methods for Productivity Through Happiness

There is mounting evidence that suggests that happiness is the single biggest determinant of success at work. It is, therefore, a worthwhile endeavor to explore how we can improve happiness in the workplace.

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“We spend most of our waking life at work. In fact, we spend about a third of our days at work. This is double the amount of time we spend at home. Think about it for a second. Minus the time spent sleeping, we spend twice as much at work with our coworkers, direct reports, and yes, even our boss then we do at home with our kids, pets and significant others. What does this mean? It means that if we spend our time being happier at work our overall happiness in life is going to improve substantially. The sad truth, however, is that happiness at work or job satisfaction has been plummeting. Worldwide, dissatisfied workers outnumber satisfied workers two to one. In fact, close to 60% of U S employees feel disengaged at work today. In contrast, in the 1970s only about 40% were disengaged. So when it comes to enhancing happiness at work, there is a lot of room to grow. There is another reason to focus on happiness at work. It turns out happiness may be the single biggest determinant of success at work. Why? Because of at least three reasons. Happier people are healthier, therefore they’re less likely to take sick leave. One study showed that happier team members show up for work 16 more days a year, than they’re unhappy counterparts. That is huge. To put that number in perspective…”