Fun, Freedom & Fulfilment at Work: Happiness Surveys

This post lists all the surveys that I am coming across in my research. This post will be updated on an ongoing basis.

April 2007 - Survey by Jobsite

Brits Lose More Sleep Over Career Concerns Than Love Lives...But we do believe the perfect job exists:

2/3 of us worry more about our career than our love life
52% of people are still searching for the dream job
60% believe that the perfect job exists
Brits are ‘speed dating’ through their careers with the average job lasting just 1 – 3 years, the same length as the average relationship
Women are greater career flirts expecting between 7 – 10 jobs in their lives, while men expect 4 – 6

March 2007 - Survey by Brooke Street (Recruitment Specialists)

"UK employees are motivated by happiness not money" - the survey found that people's main sources of motivation as follows:

37% - job satisfaction
28% - financial reward
12% - praise from manager
7% - having more responsibility

March 2007 - Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For (Partner - Best Companies Ltd)

657 companies complete the full assessment process (36 big / 273 mid / 348 small)
Circa 150,000 respondents
The employees were assessed on what they felt about:
- Leadership
- Well-being
- Management
- Having a fair deal
- Giving something back
- The company
- Personal growth
Workplace engagement ("ability of workers to grow, explore and learn in an environment of freedom and trust") is seen as a competitive advantage that takes dedication to achieve
The best improvers used the studies of previous years to prioritise their workforce development activities

February 2007 - Survey by City University in London

A survey of models and non-models was done for the start of the fashion week. The survey found that models scored low on the assessments carried out, especially the Psychological Needs Satisfaction (PNS) assessment. The PNS assessment measures:

Need to feel connected to others
Ability to feel free in making independent decisions
Need to feel competent in work

The results seem to indicate that in jobs where we are categorised as a commodity (easily replicable by others) it results in low levels of self-esteem and fulfilment.

January 2007 - Happiness at Work Index by Chuimento (HR Consultancy)

The eight factors that make us happy at work – in ranked order
1. Friendly, supportive colleagues
2. Enjoyable work
3. Good boss or line manager
4. Good work/life balance
5. Varied work
6. Belief that we’re doing something worthwhile
7. Feeling that what we do makes a difference
8. Being part of a successful team

The eight factors that make us unhappy at work – in ranked order
1. Lack of communication from the top
2. Uncompetitive salary
3. No recognition for achievements
4. Poor boss/line manager
5. Little personal development
6. Ideas being ignored
7. Lack of opportunity for good performers
8. Lack of benefits

November 2006 - Survey by ISR (Consultancy Firm)

Creative fulfilment, good relationships with colleagues, and knowledge that work is meaningful outrank salary packages on job satisfaction ranking list
85% of those surveyed liked the work that they did
75% believed their work made good use of their skills
Money / status / job title only provides short-lived contentment
Longer-term contentment comes from work autonomy, good career progression and helping others in their work

November 2006 - Happiness Index carried out by City & Guilds

People who work with hands (e.g. hairdressers, cooks etc) are happier than those who don't (civil servants, estate agents etc)
The best combination for happiness is intellectual challenge combined with working with hands
About half of blue and white collar workers believe that they are fairly paid for what they do - this is leading to people looking for jobs where they can use skills that they enjoy and where they are more in charge of their own destiny

City & Guilds links:

September 2006 - World Map of Happiness

August 2006 - Standard Life Happiness and Self-fulfilment Report by Center for Future Studies

Most people consider themselves reasonably happy
Having and enjoyable & satisfying job was one of the nine factors identified for happiness
Basic priorities are moving away from a materialist emphasis to belonging, self-expression, and quality of life
This does not mean that money and material things are no longer important - they just have a lower priority
Excessive consumerism seems to be running out of steam
People have a significant desire to be in control of their own destiny - they believe it is possible to create their own future than to be tied down by class, gender, religion and family constraints
People are spending more money on experiences rather than possessions - this indicates that the experience economy will continue to grow
Good close relationships are extremely important for overall happiness
People want to achieve a better balance between family & work (flexible working, work compatible with childcare, well-being at work) - this is becoming a crucial factor that employers who want to attract good employees will need to provide
Life planning (goals, objectives) is important for happiness
Lack of financial security is a significant obstacle to happiness
People generally have a high level of confidence in the future

3 Comments

I am 17 years old and for 3 consecutive summers I worked through an agency called Hanac Youth Services. My actual work place, though, was at a hospital. The Hanac agency was where I got paid from though. So how do I include them both on my resume, because I was never working AT Hanac, I worked at the hospital. This may sound confusing. If i see any confused answers, I'll try to add more.

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