Happiness at work is one of the most influential factors on worker performance and is largely responsible for the well-being of professionals within the company.
Happiness at work is a guarantee of talent retention in an environment where salary is no longer the only priority, so its promotion should be one of the reasons to be taken into account by the human resources departments of companies.
In addition to adequate compensation, the factor that employees value most in a company, regardless of their age, is directly related to their well-being, that is, aspects such as the possibility of reconciling family life more easily, a good work environment or the performance of interesting tasks in the workplace, all of which generate an optimistic and proactive attitude that benefits the company.
On the other hand, Harvard University has just conducted a study on happiness at work and identified the characteristics that make people unhappy at work. One of the findings of this research is that the most unhappy workers are those in jobs that require little human interaction, do not allow for relationships with co-workers, or shift work, where when one enters, the other leaves.
Loneliness at work is frustrating
This is the case for long-distance truck drivers, security guards on night shifts, delivery drivers or telecommuters. In all these cases, contact with other workers in the company is rare, which means that loneliness creates a great sense of frustration that increases over time.
“As other recent studies have shown, loneliness increases the risk of death with age in similar proportions to smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity,” said Robert Waldinger, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development.
“If you're encouraged to work as a team, it's easier to build positive relationships with your peers. But if part of your job is to be alone all the time, or to compete with others, that's a different story,” said Robert Waldinger. In fact, it's been proven that workers are more productive and committed to the company when they enjoy talking and relaxing with their colleagues.
The jobs that generate the most unhappiness are those that require little human interaction.
“People who interact socially with family, friends, and their environment are happier, physically healthier, and live longer than people who are more solitary,” said Robert Waldinger. He added, “People who are more isolated from others are less happy, their health declines earlier in middle age, their brain function deteriorates earlier, and they live shorter lives than people who are not lonely.“
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