Happiness at work cannot be decreed. At best, one can aspire to experience it. Companies and employees alike are looking for practical solutions to achieve this ambitious goal. And while there is no ready-made formula, this pursuit always requires three foundational elements:

• 1. Finding meaning in work
• 2. Teamwork and the essential organization of human relationships
• 3. Work as just one factor among many in the broader search for happiness.

Finding meaning in one’s work, a first step toward happiness

The search for meaning goes beyond the simple economic value of work. It helps motivate employees, who must be able to identify the objectives of their work as well as share in its values. Admittedly, it is not always easy to be perfectly aligned with a company’s strategy, but reconciling an employee’s own values with the objectives of the business is one way to achieve happiness at work.

Not only does the purpose of the work completed allow a happy employee to identify with the goal being pursued, it also gives them a sense of belonging by sharing its broader spirit.

Teamwork, a social dimension that can re-enchant the daily grind

Being happy at work also means finding one’s place within a team. Sharing an employer’s values is not enough to make everyday life enjoyable. On the contrary, cordial workplace relationships represent for many employees one of the foundations of the happiness of working. These calm relationships involve not only daily interactions within the company itself, but also the ties that may unite each employee with external partners, or even with the company’s suppliers.

Friendliness then replaces stress when internal relationships are a priority for the company, and this makes it easier to understand the efforts deployed to strengthen the bonds between teams, or even to create new ones across different departments.

Work, just one activity among many?

Being happy at work is not enough to be happy overall, and each person’s professional activity represents only part of their existence. Admittedly, stress and discomfort at work make personal fulfilment difficult once the company doors close, but the reverse is not as clear-cut. In short, workplace happiness must be part of a broader ambition and also enable fulfilment in all the other aspects of life. Balancing professional and personal life, not conditioning career success at the expense of social life, …

Companies have understood this universal dimension of happiness, supporting employees in dedicating time to other philanthropic, cultural or humanitarian initiatives. The aim is no longer to set each of an individual’s activities against one another, but rather to do everything possible to ensure that each of these areas contributes to the search for happiness.

Sylvie Aubry

The editorial team

redaction@monde-economique.ch