Problem Based Learning

Motivation = Happiness = Productivity?

Chiumento is a human resources consultancy. The organisation carried out some research recently into happiness at work. They devised a 'Happiness at Work Index'. The index was constructed through an online survey asking respondents to measure their perceptions of happiness on a scale. The scale ranged from 10 - very happy, to 0 - very unhappy, with 6.5 being 'fairly happy'. There were a number of key findings from the survey, which included the following:

• 25% describe themselves at the top of the scale - very happy
• 56% describe themselves as 'fairly happy'
• 20% of workers are unhappy at work
• Poor communication is a major factor causing unhappiness
• Those working for organisations where staff numbers range from between 20 and 100 staff are the happiest
• Happiness seems to decline the longer a person stays with one organisation
• Happiness also declines the longer people stay in one role
• The voluntary and non-profit sectors contain the highest numbers of happiest workers (26%) but also the largest number of unhappy workers (24%)
• Senior managers have a high happiness rating whereas shop floor workers have the lowest
• Part time workers are happier than full time workers
• Women tend to feel more job satisfaction than men
• Workers aged 55 and above are the happiest group of workers (85% describing themselves as happy)

Image Copyright: Jari Lehtikangas, from stock.xchng.

Chiumento listed the top ten factors that make people happy and unhappy at work. They were as follows:

The survey seemed to support a number of other studies that have been made into happiness and motivation at work. Most of these studies come to the conclusion that people who have good working relationships, friends at work and who describe themselves as happy are more productive and can generate more revenue for the business. The difficulty for many firms is finding how to improve happiness at work.