5 Ways of Maximising Your Work Happiness Employment

According to the Personal Group’s 2019 Hapi survey, only 41% of surveyed people report being happy in their current occupation. That’s not a great statistic. It’s important to be happy at work, whether your occupation is in construction, retail or an office.

Not only will work happiness mean that you’re more likely to stay in your current job, but it will also have a positive knock on effect on the rest of your free time. Because of that, and in honour of International Being Happy At Work Week, Building Better Opportunities put together this handy article with some handy welfare advice for maximizing your happiness at work. 

Take Control of Your Own Development 

It’s easy to become complacent at work. Falling into a rhythm feels comfortable, and sometimes you’re too tired to do anything but go through the motions. That kind of mindset is seductive but it has an unintended side effect that work life starts to stagnate and you get stuck into a rut. Days start to run into each other. 

Instead of doing any of that, take charge. Is there a skill at work that you think you could stand to learn? Learn it. Does your place of work need a fire marshal?  Speak to your boss and put yourself forward to be that fire marshal. By taking charge of your own professional development, you’re setting yourself easily achievable goals which you can tick off — which will only lead to satisfaction. This is a great piece of welfare advice because it gives you back something that most of us lose at work: control. 

Get Feedback As Often As Possible

By asking for feedback, you come to understand where your weaknesses are. Once you know where these weaknesses are, you can come up with solutions on how to overcome them. This is a great way of taking control of your work life. Not only will it give you some goals to achieve, but it will also put you in a position where you’re aware of the difficulties you’ve already faced and overcome. This will also make sure that your achievements are monitored and taken note of. 

Say No To Negativity 

Being negative is fine. Sometimes. If you’re feeling negative about something and wish to express that negativity in a safe and positive way then there’s nothing wrong with that. A key piece of welfare advice to take away is that it’s natural to let out your frustrations. However, what’s not good is surrounding yourself with negativity and wrapping it around yourself like a blanket. Not only will this get you down at work, but it will leak out into the rest of your work life. 

Instead of concentrating on the negatives of your day to day life, embrace the little positives of your day. Take a minute to really enjoy the first coffee in the morning, spend a little time talking to the customer with the great story. Wherever there’s an opportunity for a small victory, embrace it and then meditate on it for the rest of the day. Doing this will make the day pass quicker and put you in a better mood. 

Take Responsibility For Knowing What Is Happening At Work 

Our final piece of welfare advice is to take some time and ask around for updates on what is happening at your place of work — not only for your own team, but for other teams as well. Having this knowledge will allow you to see the entirety of your workplace and also to keep track of potential issues before they become problems — potentially stopping them. Having this level of control will allow you to take real pride in your work — which will improve your day. 

Make Friends 

It’s important to have friends with you during stressful situations, and work certainly can be a very stressful situation. Not only is a friend at work someone you can talk to and vent your frustrations with, but it’s also someone with whom you can be empathic to. Research shows that possessing empathy is crucial for good mental health, without which every facet of your life suffers.

Because of these reasons, we thoroughly recommend you build relationships with people you work with, relationships built on common interests that don’t intersect with the fact that you work together. Ask people what movies they’re seeing or what they did on the weekend. If your place of work has one, spend some time at a work social. You don’t have to build a lifetime companionship with your coworkers, but being able to talk to your coworkers about something other than work is very important. It breaks the work day up a little and makes those difficult moments just a little bit easier. 

Contact Building Better Opportunities Today

Building Better Opportunities is a Staffordshire-based Welfare Advice and Employment Support organisation. We help people from the area get back into work and stay employed. If you’re looking for help to get back into employment, or feeling as though work is becoming too much, get in touch with us today. Our empathic and supportive staff are here to help you.