Can we be happy at work?

From the outset, joining happiness and work in the same sentence almost seems a contradiction.

To correctly focus on the subject, we should distinguish between whether we refer to personal happiness, an unrenounceable objective, or to labor happiness, which, although desirable, is not always attainable, why? because there are many issues that do not depend exclusively on us. And the question is whether we can be happy personally if we are not happy at work.

«Find happiness at work or you will not be happy.» Cristóbal Colón

What we should not give up is about not feel unhappy at work or because of it.

As circumstances are given to us, since in most cases it is not up to us to modify according to what things, what we have to be aware of is that what is always in our hands is to be able to choose between:

• continue at work or,
• give up this job as long as this option produces less unhappiness than to continue in it and we can afford it while we find another (to make a good choice must be realistic with our personal situation)
• or an intermediate way: to continue in the work that we have while we try to find another better one

If we choose to continue in a job that does not satisfy us completely, we would try to approach the subject in such a way that we can cope well with it:

• accept the circumstances that we can not change
• contribute our personal contribution to improve it:
  – maintaining good communication with colleagues
  – being assertive
  – trying to avoid unnecessary conflicts
  – and understand that the relationship that we have to establish in the work is not friendship but act as a team: respect, collaboration and, very important, education in the forms.

In a preventive way, to know ourselves well and to know what personality we have is crucial to be able to choose a job, to know what in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) is called our metaprograms, that is, to know by our way of being what motivates us. Do what we do between two opposite pairs:

• if we have an internal or external framework
• if we procure for ourselves or for others
• if we are maximizers or conformists
• If we are independent or we like to work as a team
• …

It is important to know ourselves in depth to choose in what kind of work we would fit better.

It must be clear that while we seek our personal happiness, the company aims for our professional excellence. These two objectives are not opposed, on the contrary, they complement each other because:

• a happier worker will be more productive / creative
• to motivate and promote the employee to achieve their professional excellence will make them feel happier, and loyalty to the company, constituting an investment in the «talent of the youth team»

«The most productive work is that which comes from the hands of a happy person.» Victor Pauchet

so one of the most important objectives of the human resources department will be to try to make the work environment as good as possible.

Each one has to play his role depending on the position he/she is in:

• the workers will have to be clear about what we want and express it in a clear, realistic and positive way
• the management teams will have to know how to motivate, take advantage of talents, have mediators of conflicts, a system to assess the degree of satisfaction or discontent and a good organization that analyzes, resolves and resolves in case of conflict.

To achieve this goal:

• good communication is essential, learning to communicate well is a key tool
• determine and publicize the distribution and knowledge of the roles and hierarchy of each worker is essential
• and, we should know in advance what the company expects from us, and communicate what we expect from the company

Also, in order to be happy at work:

• we should first come as happy as possible from home and there comes into play the ability we each have to increase our personal happiness, to be emotionally autonomous and not depend on adverse external circumstances or, at least, know how to deal with them in order to arrive in the best conditions to the job
• know how to relate correctly
• earn a fair salary
• have motivating and conciliatory bosses
• that there is a willingness to have a good working environment, for example, by facilitating hours of work, encouraging teleworking … in order to achieve an optimal reconciliation with family and personal life

Once we are working well in this horizontal plane where relationships with colleagues flow because there is a good dynamic communication and organization, then we can try to elevate our work to a higher level, learn to transform our daily work routine into a possibility of personal fulfillment and sense of contribution to the society to which we belong, in an exercise of personal creativity to which we are all called, in order to achieve besides our labor excellence, our unique contribution to the common Good.

«The work done with taste and with love, is always an original and unique creation.» Roberto Sapriza