What if we took inspiration from Scandinavian international locations to be joyful at work? | EUROtoday
Get real time updates directly on you device, subscribe now.
En 2016, the British newspaper The Times mentioned he was “probably the happiest man in the world”. And for good motive: Meik Wiking is the founder and president of the Happiness Research Institutesituated in Copenhagen. Certainly, his day by day life, he specifies with humor, doesn’t include “cuddling unicorns and puppies”, however slightly of “analyzing randomized controlled trials” and “evaluating scientific articles”. Still. His experience permits him to have a superb imaginative and prescient of what the keys to happiness may be.
Already writer of three world bestsellers (The Book of Hygge, The Book of Lykke And The artwork of making lovely recollections), the Danish researcher tackles, in his newest work*, the – now important – query of achievement at work. First excellent news: “I am convinced,” he writes within the introduction, “that work can and must be a source of happiness. »
Nearly two out of three Danes very satisfied at work
For this, Meik Wiking invites us to draw inspiration from Scandinavian countries, where professional joy is cultural. The proof: there is even a specific word – arbejdsglade – to designate it. “Arbejde means “work” and glade“joy”, explains the researcher. Combine the 2, and presto, you’re keen on what you do and also you’re joyful to go to work. In Danish we even have the phrase arbejdslystwhich suggests “desire to work” or “desire to work”, and you may want your Danish colleagues a “God arbejdslyst!”” In different phrases, you hope that they are going to be motivated by their day’s work and that they’ll get pleasure from doing it. »
This linguistic particularity can be confirmed by statistics: in keeping with Eurostat, virtually two out of three Danes say they’re very glad at work. Even stronger: a examine revealed that 58% of them would proceed to work even when they received the equal of 10 million euros within the Lotto! Meanwhile, in France, solely 27% of workers really feel fulfilled at work…
So what are the secrets and techniques of those Nordic specialists in happiness at work? In what methods can we, too, “raise” our stage {of professional} satisfaction?
First lever: “Find a goal”. “We find it much easier to get up in the morning – and much more fun working – when our motivation is fueled by the feeling of knowing Why we do what we do,” remembers Meik Wiking. Obviously, the knowledgeable concedes, it’s simpler for some workers than for others to see the final curiosity of their work. But even for many who usually are not surgeons, bakers or members of an NGO working for world peace, occupied with the which means of their duties can enable them to vary gear. “A few years ago, I visited a company that manufactured small metal springs,” says the writer. Once a 12 months, the managers introduced collectively all the workers and confirmed them a movie which confirmed the place all of the springs that they had manufactured had gone. Springs had been utilized in a large number of objects, resembling beds and hearth alarms. They subsequently helped, amongst different issues, to save lots of lives within the occasion of a fireplace and to scale back bedsores amongst hospitalized sufferers. »
If your employer doesn’t give you this angle, it’s as much as you to vary the way in which you view your exercise. This strategy, generally known as job craftingconsists of shaping our place in order that it most accurately fits us. The thought is specifically to take a special take a look at one’s work and to see if we will strengthen or enhance probably the most enriching and nice components. On a day by day foundation, acquire in a “smile file” all of the compliments it’s possible you’ll obtain out of your managers, colleagues, prospects or suppliers, advises Meik Wiking. “Whatever your work, keeping all the evidence of your positive impact on those around you is a very simple way to give more meaning to your work,” assures the researcher.
“Everyone assumes that the other takes responsibility”
In the (advanced) equation of happiness at work, the difficulty of belief additionally performs a central position – and that is an space through which Scandinavians function position fashions. “Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland all enjoy high levels of trust,” experiences the president of the Institute for Happiness Research. And I’m speaking about belief in a single’s neighbors, the police or the federal government in addition to between managers and workers. Danes belief their superiors to make the precise choices and, in return, bosses belief their workers. Each assumes that the opposite takes accountability and does their job with out having to look over their shoulder. »
Moreover, remembers the researcher, establishing a relationship of belief advantages workers as a lot because the employer: in 2016, a survey carried out amongst enterprise leaders from world wide revealed that 55% of them suppose that lack of belief is a menace to the expansion of their group. To create a local weather of belief inside your organization, Meik Wiking recommends specializing in 5 pillars: honesty, empathetic listening, persistence, honoring your commitments and constructing long-term relationships.
Red flags in job interviews
The human issue is clearly one other important part {of professional} well-being. If establishing pleasant ties with colleagues is usually thought of a “bonus”, research nonetheless present that this dimension is “fundamental” within the pleasure we will derive (or not) from going to the workplace, insists the researcher. Unsurprisingly, keep away from “toxic” bosses additionally contribute drastically to happiness. “Managers have as much impact on the mental health of individuals as their spouses,” writes Meik Wiking. […] This is why you will need to perceive your future boss earlier than accepting a place. » Among the warning alerts more likely to warn you through the job interview? A future N + 1 “who speaks more than he listens”, “who treats the members of his team badly”, “who does not recognize his mistakes” and even “who changes his attitude in the presence of his own superior hierarchical”.
It can be within the group of labor itself that the explanations for satisfaction lie. Thus, autonomy and suppleness contribute considerably to skilled well-being. And this isn’t not essentially by teleworking that these may be valued, notes the author. “Many people don’t have the option to work from home due to the nature of their work, but that doesn’t stop them from taking advantage of the benefits of flexibility,” he says. It will not be teleworking that brings pleasure, it’s, for instance, the opportunity of being absent for an hour or two to open your house to a plumber on Thursday afternoon or of working in keeping with a schedule which corresponds to his wants. »
The concern can be after all that of (over)workload and private/skilled life stability – a topic on which the Danes as soon as once more stand out. The variety of hours labored per 12 months per employee is 1,363 in Denmark, in comparison with 1,490 in France, 1,791 within the United States and 1,607 in Japan. If the four-day week may be one strategy to restrict “the encroachment of work on our free time”, different choices can be found to corporations wishing to supply a much less worrying day by day life to their groups. The writer lists 5, some fairly basic (providing versatile hours, dissuading workers from sending skilled emails on weekends) and others extra stunning. “A company with which the Happiness Research Institute collaborated packaged lunch leftovers for its employees to take home,” describes Meik Wiking. This meant they did not have to arrange dinner after they acquired house and the corporate decreased its meals waste. Win-win! »
To Discover
Kangaroo of the day
Answer
Finally, being extra fulfilled professionally requires, believes the knowledgeable, to “reformulate the notion of success”. “We sometimes get carried away by the desire to always have more and we lose sight of what really matters to us,” he concludes. […] So many individuals take root in an unrewarding job to afford a nicer automobile and an even bigger home as a result of they assume that work is not going to make them joyful. But it is perhaps price buying and selling in that huge automobile for a much less luxurious one and taking much more holidays as a substitute. […] I typically inform myself that to be wealthy is to have some huge cash, however to be rich is to have a variety of time to reside and luxuriate in life. »
*Objective: happiness at work – the Danish methodologyLeduc editions
https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/et-si-on-s-inspirait-des-pays-scandinaves-pour-etre-heureux-au-travail-25-11-2024-2576236_23.php