How to Change Your Happiness at Work
Organizations have become convinced that having engaged employees is good for their bottom line. So, they send out surveys, compile the results, share them with employees, and occasionally make changes based on the biggest issues raised by the employees. Unfortunately, these changes may not be relevant to you. There is nothing wrong with these efforts. In fact, they are important in a good organizational culture. However, this approach doesn't give the individual employee much power in taking charge of their own work engagement or happiness at work.
As a researcher, we most often write our papers to describe findings that apply to the average worker or to companies. We don't often provide individuals with the tools to use our findings in their own lives. It is not what we are trained to do, so we leave that to others. However these self-help guides are often not based in much research and are overly optimistic in what you can do. That is why I have been excited about a great book by Peter Warr and Guy Clapperton called The Joy of Work? Jobs, Happiness, and You. It is based on good research, and it is accessible to almost anyone. I use it to teach about the psychology of work and to help with coaching clients.
The book provides easy to use tools to understand what would make you happy in your jobs, what the most effective are to target for change for you would be, and how to intentionally act in realistic ways based on that knowledge. I think it is a fantastic resource for anyone who is interested in making their job better and finding more joy in their work.
I encourage you to pick up a copy. Let me know what you think!
