Sean Aiken is doing 52 jobs in 52 weeks. Anybody, anywhere can offer him a job for one week and in the past 28 weeks he’s been a Dairy Farmer, Radio DJ, Veterinarian, Advertising Executive, Florist, Job Recruiter, Yoga Instructor, TV Talk Show intern and Snowshoe guide. He just completed Week #29 in which he was a Tradeshow Salesman in Atlanta, GA.

Talk about job-hopping :o)

It gets better: Sean’s one week employers donate any wages to charity, and he’s raised a little over $11,000 so far.

I had a chance to ask Sean a couple of questions about happiness at work – he ought to have some experiences to draw on by now…

Q: So Sean, what have been the most fun jobs so far?
I think the most fun jobs so far have been: Radio DJ, Brewmaster, Rock Climbing Instructor, Advertising Executive, and Dairy Farmer.

Q: What has this experience taught you about enjoying work – is there something you can pass on to people everywhere who may not be having much fun in their current work.
I have found that when I ask people what they like most about their jobs, the response is often the people they work with. I have realized that you could have the best or worst job in the world, though it is the people you work with that are going to make it a positive or negative work environment.

I think our attitudes play a big part in our workplace satisfaction. If you are not enjoying your job, I have learned that even small changes can make a big difference and it may not be necessary to change professions completely. Perhaps, simply changing departments, asking for more responsibility, etc.

Q: Has there been one job where you thought “Yeah – I could get to like THIS!”
I think I could get to like most things. I could definitely see myself in all my previous One Week Jobs in some capacity or another, though if I had to choose one, I enjoyed working for a non-profit as a Cancer Fundraiser. Everybody I was working with were so passionate about their jobs which made for a great work environment and I really liked the fact that what I was doing was contributing to benefiting the lives of so many.

I think Sean’s project is a fantastic idea and I know he’s still looking for work – so consider employing Sean for a week in your company, I’m sure it’ll be a blast! Check out the One Week Job website to learn more and to see video from Sean’s previous employment adventures.

More and more companies are starting to care for the environment, and this is one area to which we can all contribute. Can you get your company to recycle paper? To use less electricity or water? To save on fuel or other resources? To start buying more environmentally friendly products? Make yourself heard, start a campaign, enlist support. Go green!

What’s really cool is that companies are learning that being environmentally friendly actually makes them MORE money. Interface, the world’s largest manufacturer of carpets, designed and manufactured a new kind of carpet that was environmentally friendly, and while the design and production of this new product was more expensive than their regular line, it instantly became a bestseller and has made the company a fortune.

Ray Anderson, the CEO of Interface, had a rude awakening about the way his company had been polluting, saying:

It dawned on me that they way I’d been running Interface is the way of the plunderer. Plundering something that is not mine, something that belongs to every creature on earth.

So I said to myself “My goodness, some day people like me will end up in jail.”

Another great example is Patagonia who make outdoor wear and mountain climbing gear, donate 1% of their revenue or 10% of their profits, whichever is greater, to environmental causes chosen by their employees.

But aside from financial gains, I believe that being environmentally focused has one other huge benefit for companies today: It makes employees happy. Here are five reasons why.

5: It gives us a sense of pride
Knowing that your work made a group of already wealthy investors a little richer may not be a huge source of personal pride, but knowing that your work made the world a little cleaner, or the environment a little safer or helped reduce C02 emissions can be.

Working for a company that has not only a positive bottom line but also a positive impact on the world feels good and makes us happy at work.

4: It creates a stronger bond with the company
Having that sense of pride means we can more easily identify with the company and feel like we belong there. This also contributes to happiness at work.

3: Employees can take action
Corporate environmental initiatives always work best when employees can involve themselves directly. Patagonia for instance, lets employees take time off work to work on environmental projects, and taking action for something you believe in, makes you happy.

2: We make a positive difference
It also lets us make a difference. If employees can get involved where they are and contribute to the environment through their ideas, energy, knowledge, skills or passion, they can contribute actively to a worthy cause.

1: It’s the right thing to do
It is just not right for companies to consume more natural resources than strictly necessary. It is not right to pollute, when there are other non-toxic ways to produce. Working for an organization that gets this, and chooses to do the right thing, rather than the easy thing, makes us happy at work.

So companies that take the environment seriously can not only make more money, they can also make their employees happy at work and reap all the benefits that happy workplaces experience, like increased innovation, better customer service and higher profits!

So try it out in your workplace: What could YOU do for the environment?

This post is part of the Blog Action Day

The Happy At Work Group on flickr is alive and pictures of people enjoying their work keep ticking in. Here are some great recent ones:

Jonas Cronfeld posted a creative way to be happy at work: work in your underwear!

The Canton Public Library observed international talk-like-a-pirate-day like this:

And of course, a Nintendo Wii never hurts as team viget demonstrate:

Remember, you too can join the group and post pictures of happy people at work.

Related:

• More pictures of happiness at work.
• Search for “happy at work” on flickr.

Stephen Hopson collects great business stories on his excellent blog Adversity University – many of which happen to be about Southwest Airlines.

I’m a huge fan of Southwest myself – not that I’ve ever flown with them, I’ve just read a lot about them, including the excellent book Nuts! by Kevin and Jackie Freiberg.

Here’s one of Stephen’s favorite stories that shows how employees at Southwest use their intuition:

…a flight attendant from Phoenix named Debra Undhjem stepped in to help an elderly (87 years old) passenger.

Although the elderly woman missed her plane in Oakland, she did make it to Phoenix only to miss her connecting flight to Tulsa. Since there were no more flights to Tulsa after the missed flight, the customer had no choice but to stay overnight and catch the next available flight the following morning.

In light of her situation, customer service supervisors decided to put her up in a local hotel at the airline’s expense. That’s when Debra got personally involved.

She decided to go beyond the call of duty and invite the elderly customer to her home for the night instead of putting her in a hotel room all by herself. Debra made necessary phone calls to relatives in Tulsa informing them the elderly lady would be arriving on the first flight the next day. The following morning Debra brought this customer back to the airport and waited with her until she was aboard the first flight to Tulsa.

This is not only a touching story – to me it illustrates how employees who work for a happy company are much more likely to have the will, the initiative and the energy to do nice things for other people.

Stephen also shares the story of how Southwest Airlines was invented by Rollin King, a San Antonio entrepreneur, John Parker (his banker) and Herb Kelleher (his attorney):

One day, Parker was complaining how expensive and inconvenient it was to fly between Houston, Dallas and San Antonio and suggested that a new airline be started up. Rollin shared this concept with Herb who at first thought the idea was crazy but ended up talking about it over cocktails.

In the final analysis, Herb famous words were: “Rollin, you’re crazy. Let’s do it!”

“You’re crazy. Let’s do it!” – reminds me a little of Richard Branson’s motto: “Screw it! Let’s do it!”

Stephen’s own story is pretty fascinating too – he’s a former Wall Street stockbroker turned motivational speaker, author and piliot. And he’s also deaf. You can read his story here.

If you’re in the mood for a thrill, you should read his story of The Flight That Almost Killed me Part I and Part II.

And for more on Southwest Airlines read their blog which is always a laugh and a half.

I recently posted some pictures you can find if you go to flickr and search for “happy at work”.

Greg Knaddison saw that post and suggested that we create a flickr group where everyone can post pictures of people who are happy at work.

No sooner said than done: Here’s the group. Please join me in that group (it feels kinda lonely being the only member :o), and post lots of pictures of people who are obviously enjoying what they do for a living!

I’ll feature some of the best pictures here on the blog weekly or monthly – depending on how many pictures get posted.

And thanks again for the idea Greg!