The Order of the Elephant. This little guy helped turn around a childrens hospital ward from an unhappy workplace to a very happy one.

Helle Schier, a soft-spoken, engaging woman in her mid-twenties was excited. She’d just graduated from nursing school, and had already gotten her first job as a nurse at Odense University Hospital.

But when she told a friend that she was going to work at H4, a childrens ward, her friend’s reaction was “Well, I’m not sure if I should congratulate you.” It turned out that H4 had quite a reputation. The nurses rarely helped each other out. The doctors disliked the nurses and that was very much mutual. The nurses disliked the administrative staff who in turn didn’t feel their work was being appreciated. It was not a happy place to work.

Helle still started working there with a positive attitude, but was soon forced to agree: It was a horrible place, and working there was getting her down. She didn’t like her job at all, didn’t feel productive and started to question whether being a nurse was right for her at all.

But Helle wouldn’t put up with it and she wouldn’t quit. She decided she would do something about it.

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Happy at work.

Happy? At work?

Happy… at work?

Is it possible to be happy at work? Can we go to work and be energized, have fun, do great work, enjoy the people we work with, have fun with our customers, be proud of what we do and look forward to our monday mornings? Can we create workplaces where happiness is the norm?

Or must we simply accept that work is unpleasant and tough and that is why we get paid to do it?
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There are two things that organizations traditionally use to make their people happy, but which simply do not work, and which may even be harmful:

1. Salary, raises, bonuses
2. Corporate status symbols and rewards

As long as companies look to these two things to make people happy at work, we will get nowhere. And make no mistake: Businesses use enormous amounts of money, time and effort trying to fairly apportion money and rewards.

There’s one more thing that just doesn’t make people happy at work, but which employees and trade unions oftgen cling to it: Job security.

Let’s look at why money, rewards and job security don’t make people happy.
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Maria’s new job had it all: An organization with loads of money, interesting tasks, great salary, impressive offices, a french chef, a gym, free fruit, massages and a view out of her office windows that took your breath away.

Maria is an easy-going, attractive woman in her forties with a broad business background, but even in her first month at the new job she noticed that things were very wrong. As wealthy as the organization was, it still completely lacked human and social values. The workplace was plagued by distrust, infighting, slander, backstabbing, sexual harassment, lack of respect, repression and veiled threats.

She spent the second month pondering how she could change things. By the third month Maria realized that she probably wouldn’t be able to change much and that she might get crushed trying. She quit without having found a new job.

Maria is now a publishing editor, and is also responsible for HR and the work environment at her new workplace. Her salary may be lower, but her quality of life is much higher, and she told me: “I’m now a believer when it comes to happiness at work, and want to help spread the happy message.???

While all the traditional trappings of a good job don’t hurt, they’re just not enough. It doesn’t matter how nice your office, how large your salary or how good the food is, if the mood at the company is bad.

I think that some of the things we strive for at work (the title, salary, perks, etc.) aren’t the things that make us happy. I’m not saying that a high salary will make you unhappy, at least that never happened to me :o), but it won’t make you particularly happy either.

So what will? Let’s look at that.
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