Who is happy at work? And why? In order to find out, Mindspace conducted a study which had 5,000 employee participants from 7 countries
Happiness at work proved to be directly correlated with an increase in productivity and creativity. When employees are not happy, this affects not only their day to day life, but also has a negative effect over the businesses they work for. Therefore, happiness should be among the top priorities of any successful business. For a detailed analysis of this subject, Mindspace, the global supplier of boutique type co-working spaces, conducted a study in April 2019, which involved 5,000 employees from 7 countries, in order to find out how they relate to work.
The good news is that 30% of the employees working in offices state that they are very happy, and 54% of them say that they are happy most of the time. The analysis of the 7 countries included in the study shows that the employees in the United States are the happiest to go to work, 54% of them state that they are very happy and 39% that they are happy most of the time. With regard to the Romanian employees, 21% of them stated that they are very happy and 61% that they are happy most of the time spent at the office. The least enthusiastic about going to the office are the employees in the UK, almost a quarter of them stating that they are not very happy or that are not happy at all.
According to the study, Romanian employees with the highest happiness score at work are the ones working in creative and media industries, but also in banking. On the other hand, the least happy with their work are the ones working in fields like engineering and production, but also in IT. When it comes to the position occupied in the company, the Romanian employees who have registered the highest level of happiness are the ones working in creative and marketing departments, while employees in logistics and operations are the least happy.
The factors underlying a strong and long term employee engagement are just as important. And the motives for which people declare that they do not feel engaged at work are clear indicators. According to the study conducted by Mindspace, 34% of employees say that they are not involved in what they do because the financial reward is not sufficient. But a similar percentage, 35% stated that the reason is the work environment, which does not inspire them. “Happiness at work is important not only for the positive atmosphere it creates, but also for business”, says Dan Zakai, CEO and co-founder of Mindspace. “We want to analyze what makes employees happy, because we know that their well-being translates into a higher engagement level, more productivity, creativity and flexibility. Furthermore, they have a positive impact on their colleagues and remain in the business much longer. Who doesn’t want that?”
The engagement assessment is essential but, in many countries, it is not yet seen as mandatory.
In order to have a positive impact over the employees’ happiness and engagement levels, companies need to first listen to them, to find out how they relate to their workplace. Nevertheless, 21% of companies do not perform any type of engagement assessment. From this point of view, geographical differences are big – in the United States, only 18% of businesses do not assess the engagement, while in Israel, 31% perform no such assessment. In Romania, 15% of companies do not perform such assessments and thus skip the most important step in the improvement of the happiness and engagement levels of employees and, at the same time, in the improvement of their business’s performance – direct discussions with employees about how they feel at the office.
