Summary....Happiness Conference Research

"Happy Days" Conference Research Summary

This post summarises the research that the foundation has done for its happiness & wellbeing event. Please note that we will be adding to this post as we progress in the conference development. This aim of this post is to pull together the key themes and related posts in a way which makes the the whole happiness & wellbeing arena easy to understand.

The research will be summarised into four areas:

1. Overall perspective of happiness and wellbeing
2. Happiness and wellbeing of family & young people
3. Happiness and wellbeing at work
4. Politics of happiness & wellbeing

1. Overall Perspective of Happiness and Wellbeing

An overview of happiness

The website supporting Mark Easton's BBC 6 part series "The Happiness Formula" that was screened in 2006 provides a good overview of happiness. The articles that were written to support the airing of the programme in May / June 2006 provide a synopsis of the key issues associated with happiness by exploring the journey to lasting happiness. [Post "Mark Easton - The Happiness Formula" ].

What the science of happiness is telling us

During my research, I was extremely surprised by the amount of work that had been done in this area...it seems that happiness and achieving happiness is becoming more important to us as a worldwide society. In the following series of posts, I have tried to make sense of what I have found:

• What is happiness and wellbeing? Happiness is created by a variety of factors and that typically we need to have them all in our lives. This was determined by finding people who are happy and determining what kinds of lives that they were living that were creating that happiness. To be happy we need to create lives that balance - and the level of balance is dependent on the individual (their preferences, needs and desires) i.e. one size does not fit all. [Post "Happiness & Wellbeing - Key Facts"]
• How do we measure happiness? The one sure thing in the happiness of science is that we know if we are feeling happy or not (this is the measurement of "subjective" happiness). However, it also seems that there can be a big difference between what we are feeling moment to moment and the overall satisfaction the we feel in our lives. [Post "Measuring Happiness & Positive Psychology].
• How can we make ourselves happy? Research has shown us what kinds of factors that we need to have in our lives to make us happy by looking at happy people. However, research also suggests that those of us who are unhappy are not very effective at making ourselves happy. Most of this lack of effectiveness comes from pursuing happiness as a goal - this results in us having a lot of wrong strategies about what makes us happy [Posts "Do We Know What Makes Us Happy?" & "Daniel Gilbert - Stumbling on Happiness"]. It seems that there is some need to educate people as how to create balanced lives for themselves.
• How can we use the happiness studies to make us happier at the governmental level? Now that we have all this research about what makes us happy - the challenge for governments is to determine how best to use public resources to create environments that empower us to be happy. The UK government has created a group (Whitehall Wellbeing Working Group) to oversee the development of a wellbeing index (as part of the defra sustainability agenda) and to determine how to apply happiness and wellbeing research to policy development.
• How can we use the happiness studies to make us happier at the individual level? We are the source to our own happiness - it is up to us to create balanced lives that make us feel fulfilled, satisfied and happy. Even if the government was extremely successful in creating an economy and living environments that fully support our ability to be happy, only we can make ourselves happy - and it appears that we are currently not very effective at doing this. Positive Psychology has been born from this gap - it is a science dedicated to taking happiness research and creating tools and resources from them that people can use to make themselves happier. [Post "The Basics of Positive Psychology?" ]. Also positive psychologists are also not adverse to advising governments how to create policies that make people happier.

How happy are we?

So just how happy is the UK?  This varies according to where we look:

• We are not okay - levels of mental depression - according to Oliver James in Affluenza Anglo-Saxon cultures (English speaking) are suffering from a middle-class virus called "Affluenza" which causes depression, anxiety and addiction. Anglo-Saxon countries (eg. USA and UK) have twice the amount of mental depression than non-English speaking cultures (eg. Denmark) - the raised depression level is attributed to having a culture that is excessively focused on work, consumerism and money.
• We are okay - work happiness surveys - the majority of the work based surveys looking at happiness (based on "subjective happiness" which are self-reported happiness levels) say that we are generally happy at work. [Post "Work Surveys" ].
• We are not okay - the unicef report - this report  has put the UK at the bottom of 21 developed countries in terms of the wellbeing and happiness of its children. The UK is reported as being a "dog-eat-dog" culture that is not very kind to each other. [Post "What can we learn from the Unicef report"].
• We are not okay - the politics of wellbeing - the sense of urgency around wellbeing in politics seems to be increasing. [Post "The issues from cif politics of well-being debate", "Well-being working groups", "Conservative party & well-being", "Happiness, well-being and the government" ]. 
• We are okay - world map of happiness - this projection of global happiness shows us to be 41 out of 178 countries. [Post "Adrian White - World Map of Happiness" ].
• We could be okay and not know it - happiness experiments - a personal happiness experiment run by Adam Gee where he reported 3 things that made him happy at the end of each day run made him realise how lucky and happy his life was. This kind of exercise is typical of those used in the application of positive psychology. [Post "Adam Gee - Happiness Project" ].
• We are showing the strain - ESRC & the impact of a changing world - as we become globalised and more knitted in with the rest of the world, we are needing to expend a lot energy and effort to keep up with the new world that we are in. Our society is now starting to show the strain - we are overworked and suffering from related mental and physical stresses - we are becoming more obese - our children are unhappier - divorce rates are increasing. [Post "ESRC" ].
• We could be okay with help - positive psychology - positive psychology has now penetrated the UK market demonstrating that we have a need to be educated in how to make ourselves happy [posts "The basics of positive psychology" & "Martin Segliman - Authentic Happiness" ].
  • The Wellbeing Institute - [Post "Nick Baylis - The Wellbeing Institute" ]
  • Centre of Applied Positive Psychology - [Post "Centre of Applied Positive Psychology" ]
  • Centre of Confidence and Wellbeing - [Post "Centre for Confidence" ]

2. Happiness & Wellbeing of Family and Young People

What is the current situation?

The best indicator at the moment about how we are getting on with happiness and wellbeing of family and young people is the unicef report . The report "An overview of child well-being in rich countries" was released in February 2007 amidst a lot of publicity. This report put the UK bottom of 21 developed countries when unicef looked at 40 indicators (data collected over 2000-2003). The key reasons reported for this poor performance is then general underinvestment in young people / family and an overly competitive unkind society. [Post "What can we learn from the unicef report" ]

A brainstorm on what could have given rise to this

The below list is based on some of the themes that I have picked up during the research for the happiness & wellbeing conference:

• Our culture is becoming more focused on self gratification and quick returns - as we pursue more happiness and fulfilment, our lack of understanding of what truly makes us happy has caused us to concentrate more on creating transient pleasures and self gratification. We are becoming more and more focused on consumerism. We as a culture are under investing in both our communities and families. Both of these which are phenomenal sources of long lasting happiness but they require medium to long term investment of hard work and diligence to develop them as substantial sources of happiness. [Post "Do we know what makes us happy?" ].
• Our need to perform as a nation - our rapidly changing competitive environment is causing us to push our children to perform better so that they can be prepared for the future. Children are now being tested nationally on a regular basis. This is resulting in an excessive focus on performing well in the classroom and giving rise to increased stress levels in our children. Children are no longer left to "organically" develop into well adjusted children through play and social interactions - they are being forced to fit into a "good child" mould.
• The future is more uncertain for our children - our children are seeing a lot of changes going on in the world and they do not feel supported or prepared to meet this future. This can cause high levels of stress.
• Parents are working more and are tired when they are not - the economy is causing parents to be working longer hours in order to perform at work. As well as parents having less time for their children because of work, parents are also not able to provide quality time to children because they are tired when they get back from work. In my research with life coaches I found that one of the key reasons that people people seek life coaching support is because work has taken over their life and they are tired all the time. [Post "Life coaching perspective on work empowerment" ].
• Parents are struggling to parent well - the programme "Honey we're killing the kids" demonstrates that we as a culture have a lot of bad family habits that are having a negative impact on our children. As our lives have become faster and more time constrained, the habits that encouraged cohesive family development are being put aside for activities that are quick and easy. [Post "Kris Murrin - Honey we're killing the kids" ].
• Community support is decreasing - children are less likely to participate with the wider community because of the concerns of their safety. Families are contributing less to their local communities because they have less time available and they do not prioritise community activities. Also, technology is making children more solitary creatures as they spend time with the computer rather than real life people.
• Our children are not well understood - the younger generation is significantly different from previous generations - yet we still try to treat them the same. We do not appreciate the strengths and the gifts of this new generation and this is resulting in alienation because society is not ready for them.

What is currently being done?

• Good Childhood Inquiry - the Children's Society launched its 2 year Good Childhood Inquiry to coincide with the release of the unicef report. This inquiry will determine what makes a good childhood today and provide a children / family focus advise to policy developers. [Post "Children's Society - Good Childhood Inquiry" ]
• Other childhood inquiries - The conservative party has launched an Inquiry into the Quality of British Childhood which is being run by a high profile working group. The group will report back with the results of the inquiry at the end of 2007. Demos has also launched a Families and Health Care Programme that will be predominately look at the care of young people in the community.[Post "Current Young People Inquiries - Quality of British Childhood" ].
• Happiness curriculum in Schools - The headmaster of Wellington College, Anthony Seldon, has pioneered the inclusion of happiness education into his college's curriculum. This education is based on the work done by positive psychologists. [Post "Anthony Seldon - Happiness Curriculum at Wellington College" ].
• Other positive psychology projects - The Young Foundation has launched a local well-being project with 3 local authorities covering positive parenting and developing emotional resilience young people. The Centre for Confidence and Well-being in Scotland is looking at several projects that work at keeping the confidence and motivation of young people high. [Post "Summary of Young People Projects" ].
• Policy development - the conservative party is advocating the principle of family friendly policy development. [Post "Conservative Party & Well-Being" ].

3. Happiness and Well-being at Work

How are we currently doing?

Work surveys: According to work surveys in general, the majority of us feel fairly happy at work...for example the August 2006 survey by Standard Life showed that most people consider themselves to be reasonably happy at work.  [Post "Work Surveys" ] .

Engagement: However, a key indicator of being happy (according to positive psychology) is the level of "engagement" that people have:

Engagement..being in "flow" (being "absorbed") with what we are doing

The CIPD's research on engagement [ Post "CIPD - Work Engagement" ] showed that only 30% of employees are engaged in their work.

The opportunity: This indicates that even though people are fairly happy at work, there is still a significant opportunity for them to be happier at work which will show up in their level of engagement.

Overall view of employment

The following organisations provide a good view of employment and the work environment:

• The Institute of Employability Studies provides an apolitical view of employment serving both the private sector and the public sector. The institute focuses in knowledge and practical experience in: employment, training policy, operation of labour markets, human resource planning and development. [Post "Institute of Employment Studies" ].
• The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development  serves the HR community and development practitioners. They help their members to work effectively with human capacity and capability in the organisations that they serve. [Post "CIPD - Work Engagement" ].
• The Work Foundation brings together all sides of the working organisation (not just HR) working to improve both economic performance and quality of life. The purpose of The Work Foundation is to promote the quest for good work. [Post "Work Foundation - Good Work" ].

What is happening....work meets the family and society

Corporate Social Responsibility - CSR means that businesses take into account their economic, social and environment impacts. This includes looking into the impact that they have on employees, employee families and communities. The government is working to demonstrate through their Responsible Competitive Index that businesses that take part in CSR activities have improved competitiveness. There are no significant CSR government programmes for well-being of employees (apart from: HWWB, Flexible working from the 2002 Employment Act, the CSR project "Rights at Work" being led by DWP) - it is felt that it should be clear to businesses that there is a solid business case for happy, healthy and productive employees.  [Post "Government CSR, well-being and the workplace" ].

Work-Life Balance - The UK is a nation of workaholics - we work longer hours than the Europeans and we are less productive. Longer hours means that we have less time to spend with our families and that we are often tired when we do spend time with our families, However, the number of hours that we are working is falling. The Evening Standard (14th May 2007) article "Long hours falling as men restore work-life balance" shows that the number of men working in private sector organisations working more than 45 hours a week has fallen from 41% in 1997 to 31% in 2007. It is thought that better work-life balance could actually boost productivity and help create stronger families. The Work Foundation has started up the Employers and Work-Life Balance organisation which helps employers to develop and improve their sustainable work-life strategies.

Work Flexibility - More and more workers prefer to have flexible working because it allows them to both meet their work commitments and manage their family lives. Flexible working also improves the productivity of individuals - research by CIPD has shown that those members of the workforce who are the most engaged in their work have more access to flexible working than those who less engaged. Furthermore, flexible working is not a separate issue from work-life balance - it is a key part of work-life balance as stated by Unison's Work-Life Balance Campaign:

"Unison believes that all workers should have a right to work that does not damage their freedom to pursue activities outside the workplace. This means making work more sensitive. Arranging work more effectively and organising it more intelligently."

Work is Good for You - The government has taken the stance that work is good for you and is a large source of happiness and wellbeing in our lives. Also the changing demographics means that essential for the overall economy that a larger percentage of those of working age are at work rather than being away from work due to illness. They have launched the Health, Work and Well-Being (HWWB) programme to help employees reduce health related work problems in the first place and to bring them back quicker to work if they do fall ill (as working will help the employees recuperation process). However, Unison have a differing view:

New Labour sees "work" as the panacea to may work problems...it believes that work is the means equality of opportunity (personal, familial, societal salvation) will be delivered...the work focus means that more and more time is being spent at work...two thirds of employees feel working hours undermine family life.

"Good Work" is what is required - Richard Reeves (in "The voice of co-owned businesses")  believes that we are concentrating too much on "work-life" balance..."The biggest challenge facing us is not overwork but BETTER WORK...bad work is a blight on civilization...it wastes time, humanity and hope....work is not merely an economic necessity but something that will enhance your life". [Post "Richard Reeves - Happy Mondays" ].

I have tried to pull together what is meant by good work in my posts:

• Happiness & good work part 1 - exploring unhappiness & sickness, happiness & engagement, simple definition of good work
• Happiness & good work part 2 - exploring the key factors of good work ( work-life balance, healthy & fitness, reasonable workloads, tools for the trade, good management, supportive culture).

My key conclusion is that is what makes good work is a combination factors rather than just concentrating on one issue (eg work-life balance). Also, just as important as employers creating great workplaces is employees being empowered to create great work for themselves - it is not all down to employers.

Happiness meets the free market!

Employee engagement is the next competitive advantage - as the business landscape becomes more global and competitive, more and more businesses are realising that they need their work force to be more engaged. Engaged employees, as well as being more productive, are more creative, innovative and more prepared to go the extra mile to help their organisations achieve their strategic objectives. CIPD in their report "How Engaged are British Workers" looked at the most productive workers and determined what factors that they had in common (work-life balance, flexible contracts, opportunity to impact on the management, leadership commitment, fairness & transparency of the organisation). [Post "CIPD - Employee Engagement" ].

Engaged employees are motivated - the foundation has recently piloted with Energize Solutions and UEL a prototype pilot for its graduate employability programme [see post "Prototype Pilots - An Amazing Tool" ]. In this pilot I came across some interesting numbers covering levels of motivation and levels of productivity [source: Michael Cox and Michael E. Rock, Seven Pillars of Leadership(Research quoted in Liberating the Corporate Soul by Richard Barrett)]:

• Difference in productivity between high motivation and average motivation
  • Low task complexity - 52%
  • Medium task complexity - 85%
  • High task complexity - 127%
• Difference in productivity between least motivated and most motivated
  • Low task complexity - 300%
  • Medium task complexity - 1200%
  • High task complexity - too large to measure!!

Very happy employees are engaged - positive psychology defines engagement as being a key aspect of happiness (along with positive emotion and meaning)....this means that highly engaged employees are also very happy [see post "The basics of positive psychology" ]. This provides a fairly robust business case for organisations to ensure that their workforce is happy and healthy (although I have found several articles that say that the amount that needs to be make a workforce happy may actually outweigh the £££ benefits).

Alex Kjerulf (Chief Happiness Officer) has made a great post ("Happiness at work is the ultimate productivity booster") to demonstrate that a person being happy at work is considerably more productive than a person who is not so happy using using productivity enhancement tools (e.g time management tools).

What is being done to create happiness and well-being at work?

• Work Initiatives Summary - The post "Summary of Work Projects - Positive Psychology, Happiness & Well-Being" details the initiatives that I have found to support happiness and well-being at work by:
  • The government
  • The employers
  • Positive psychology practitioners
• Best Companies to Work For - The Sunday Times run a yearly "100 best places to work for" - these are the pioneering organisation who take the well-being of their staff as important and have put structures and processes in place that create empowerment in the workplace.
• Supporting organisations - private sector companies are also setting up to support organisations to create empowering workplaces (list to be added to):
  • I-Opener - see post "I-Opener - Happiness at Work"
  • Stanton Marris - see post "Stanton Marris - Energy Consultants"

4. Politics of Happiness and Well-Being

Post still in progress....

Posted by: Hina Patel