We all have good days and bad days at work and being happy at work is not just about avoiding having bad days at work – it requires having mostly good days, where we actively enjoy our work.
But how often do people around the world have good work days and what makes them good? Is it about compensation, perks and promotions – or do we value other things more?
Our brand new survey of more than 2,500 people worldwide shows how frequent good work days are and reveals their main causes.
For instance, 1 in 3 say they have a good work day every day or almost every day – while 22% experience at most 2-3 good work days a month!
Here are the most important findings from our survey.
And here’s a video where we explain the survey and the main findings:
First of all, thank you for taking the time to do such a significant study on work happiness.
Reading through the findings, I see several interesting things and came to think of several examples that would fit into your conclusions.
Co-workers and workspace “feel” is, in my opinion, the most significant influence on how I regard my work days. I work with some skilled co-workers who are not only pushing the technical limits of our software products but also great fun to be around.
I have tried working in other companies, and also owned an agency, where the overall “feel” and “mood” in the office was low. I often went home after a long day in my chair feeling tired and irritable.
So if you are out there, and you don’t often have good work days, my advice, supported by this survey, would be to find a co-worker or two and have a good time with them – while during your work.
Fascinating survey, thank you for publishing.
The bit that caught my attention was that bosses have better days than workers. Your explanation was:
Bosses may have more responsibilities but they also have more autonomy and control, which makes them happier at work in almost every single study.
Interestingly, I believe that if you give employees more autonomy and control they will use that autonomy to go about fixing the things in their environment that prevent them from doing good work. Which in turn improves productivity.
Another reason why a happy working environment is a productive one.