What makes you happy at work? International Day of Happiness

Today is #InternationalDayofHappiness – a day where all 193 United Nations members states around the world come together to create more happiness in the world around us.

“I will try to create more happiness in the world around me”

The Action for Happiness pledge

Happiness is something we are passionate about – particularly when it comes to Happiness at Work. We have spent 12 years researching the Science of Happiness at Work™ with nearly 60,000 respondents from 131 countries. Our consultants work with clients across the globe to inspire and develop leaders to create environments where people love to work.

Share Happiness

This year’s International Day of Happiness theme is all about sharing happiness. So some of our team took to the streets of Oxford, UK to invite people to share what makes them Happy at Work. Take a look.

There’s some themes:

• Relationships matter. People often mention their colleagues are what makes them happy at work.
• Teamwork and collaboration. People like to feel part of something bigger than just themselves – to be able to trust others and feel connected.
• The end result – People want to take pride in a good job well done and be recognised for it.

Happiness at work is more important than ever. Even back in 2011, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution which recognised happiness as a “fundamental human goal” and called for “a more inclusive, equitable and balanced approach to economic growth that promotes the happiness and well-being of all peoples”.

Achieving happiness in a VUCA world

As one of our consultants Katie Demain said in her recent blog post “We’ve lived in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world for a generation already. And we’re used to the fact that change is the norm: fads die out, innovative high-tech products suddenly become our daily tag-along and certain industries don’t manage to keep up with the times. International patent applications are continuing the trend of a 7.3% year-on-year increase (1) creating a speed of technological evolution and a frenzied need to stay ahead.

When dealing with volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, the power of the Science of Happiness at Work™ is that it creates a solid underpinning of positive business disciplines. It encourages people to succeed even in turbulent times.”

We’d like to say thanks the wonderful people of Oxford for being so forthcoming and sharing their views. We hope you have a happy day at work today, and every day.

To find out more about our unique, research-led approach please contact us on +44 (0)1865 511522 or email info@iopenerinstitute.com.

References

(1) WIPO Patent Cooperation Treaty applications 2016 (World Intellectual Property Organization; Geneva March 15th 2017; PR/2017/804)