More and more research into work happiness - Part 1


THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN THE OPTIMIST ON JULY 14, 2023

Series – Work your way to happiness – part 1

Three-quarters of employees are unhappy. Absenteeism figures are higher than ever. And this while we need everyone with good spirits to realize the transition. We looked for answers and found Dr. Kim Cramer, co-founder of BR-ND People that builds brands and uses a scientific method to make employees and organizations flourish. Facts, experiences, tips straight from practice…

BY: GIJS DE SWARTE

Kim Cramer: 'Let's start with the state of affairs first. It's not easy, I can tell you. Fortunately, more and more research is being done into work happiness and as a result there is now quite a bit of information available. It differs of course per study, per country and per sector, but roughly you can say that three-quarters of employees are not really happy at work. And you can imagine that it's worst in large, purely profit-driven companies.'

EMOTIONAL OVERLOAD

'Sick leave has been steadily increasing since 2016 and is now higher than ever. According to figures from Statistics Netherlands published in March 2023, it stood at 5.6 percent at the end of last year. That means fifty-six out of every thousand working days were absent. This includes flu, colds and that sort of thing, but directly below that are psychological complaints, overstrain, burnout, etcetera. By far the most important underlying cause is excessive work pressure. This is followed by infection at work (in Corona times) and then you get to categories such as "doing the same thing for too long", "arguments and conflict", "transgressive behavior", "emotional overload" – and the like.'

TICKING TIME BOMB

'Of course we all have to do something we don't feel like doing sometimes. This is not a plea for a hippie-dippie society where nothing is necessary. Structure, frameworks and tasks are healthy and certainly also generate happiness. But the inevitable conclusion is that we're in terrible shape. Paul Polman, the former CEO of Unilever, calls it a ticking time bomb and I can only agree with him. Research he recently commissioned in the US and UK shows that many people want to work for organizations that make a positive impact, but that there is often such a mismatch of values that they are considering leaving their employer or have already done so. According to the international research and consulting firm Gartner, 82 percent of employees want to be seen as a human being, not as a human resource at work, while only 45 percent feel that this is the case. We spend so much time with work. We attach so much importance to it and it's such an essential aspect of society. In my opinion, you can hardly conclude anything other than that we need to do something about this as quickly as possible. And that's possible.'