7 keys to being happy at work
- June 13, 2019
The World Health Organization predicts a significant increase in anxiety cases as the leading cause of sick leave worldwide in the coming years. The current working environment is becoming a serious problem that has an impact on the productivity of the company. New models are already emerging to invest in improving personal happiness at work, but what strategies are being implemented?
It is understood that, when arriving at work, people have to disconnect from their personal life and emotions and focus on their efficient and professional aspects to perform to the maximum. The reality is that only when people are at ease and behaves as they are, they work better and contribute to creating a good atmosphere in the office.
It is this awareness that is leading companies to change their corporate culture and invest in employee wellbeing or worker welfare. The challenge is to create positive environments in which workers can show themselves and interact frankly, are motivated and valued for their creative contributions, and in which it is common to feel optimism, trust, appreciation, and respect.
This requires a shift from the paternalistic business model to the empowerment of workers, based on trust in their ability to make good decisions, aligned with the company values.
A productive work enviroment
The company must, therefore, focus on promoting job satisfaction and recognizing the contributions of its employees. Here are seven valuable proposals to achieve this:
- Implement work-reconciliation measures to promote a work-life balance.
- Avoid fixed positions and encourage each worker to leave their comfort zone, proposing new ideas, connecting with other professionals, and incorporating new knowledge.
- To create a culture of learning from failure, to erase the fear of making errors, and to learn corporately from mistakes.
- To promote contact between the company’s professionals to build a team spirit, in which the achievement of one is that of all, or that new projects in common arise.
- Incorporate in the daily life of the company techniques of self-knowledge and emotional balance such as mindfulness, chikun, yoga, or meditation, in addition to promoting the practice of sports. Both are powerful ways to reduce stress and increase personal happiness.
- To offer personal help with emotional problems, and to recognize the well-done job.
- To propose meetings and activities to have a good time and for the team to get to know each other better, it is fundamental!
Being happy at work, also a personal challenge
Ben Shahar, a professor at Harvard University specializing in positive psychology and author of books such as Practicing Happiness and Choosing the Life You Want, reminds us that the key to being happier is to be constant.
Achieving happiness -according to Ben Shahar- requires having breakfast and a good meal to have energy available during the day, practicing sports to keep stress and sadness away, comfortable dressing and shoes, walking with a good posture facing front, enriching oneself with new experiences, emptying the “to-do list” from time to time to feel light and listening to music that brings good humor, among other small habits which bring us closer to happiness.
But an assertive attitude is also necessary to show oneself as one is in all situations, a good face, and gratitude to others. While pursuing one’s goals with professionalism, but without becoming obsessed, willing to fail and try again, with more knowledge.
Professionalism, energy, and satisfaction with what you do are, therefore, the key to facing the great vital challenges that people and companies have been standing for some years now. The whole team is vital to accomplishing this. The company needs employees who are empowered, interested in learning, with a shared vision, positive relationships, and a sense of belonging. And a lot, a lot of support.
Do you dare to place these keys to happiness into practice?
People First es un espacio de inspiración donde compartimos contenidos con un eje común: las personas. Desde distintas ópticas y sectores, abordamos varios temas, tendencias y noticias de interés humano.
