To us, the findings from SEEK’s inaugural Workplace Happiness Index survey are no surprise – study after study has shown much the same findings about the factors that are most important to people feeling happy at work. Let’s have a look at them.  

According to SEEK’s Head of Customer Insights and Strategy, Aimee Hutton: “The aim of this inaugural Workplace Index is to spotlight the strongest opportunities to improve happiness at work for both employees and employers and, ultimately, drive a happier workforce in Australia”.

You might think that pay and promotional opportunities and flexible working would be among the key factors that people reported as the things that make for a happy life at work. Not according to this study which found that the top 5 factors ranked as the most important for happiness at work were:

1. Purpose
2. Their manager
3. Day to day responsibilities
4. Company culture
5. Stress levels

Salary came in at a distant #9.

So why are we not surprised?

Because we have known it for years, for example:

1. In 2009, “Engage for success”, the report on employee engagement commissioned by the UK Government and created by Robert Macleod and Nita Clarke was published. We use their 4 pillars of engagement in our Better Workplace Projects and the first of those pillars is “Strong strategic narrative”, the centrepiece of which is “Purpose”
2. Again in 2009, the famous Simon Sinek published his celebrated work “Start with Why” which is all about purpose being at the heart of successful organisations.
3. Then in 2011, Professor Martin Seligman’s masterpiece “Flourish” was published. It sets out the 5 pillars of wellbeing that are necessary for living a flourishing life – the PERMA model in which the “M” stands for “meaning”. It is on his work that the PERMAH workplace wellbeing survey that we use in our Better coaching process is based.

That’s why we aren’t surprised that “purpose” has come out as the #1 factor for happiness at work. There is a huge body of evidence that has been telling us that for years.

Looking at #2, the second pillar in the Engage for Success framework is “Engaging management” which is about providing people with clarity of role and expectations, equipping them to be successful and coaching them to be the best that they can be. That is, it is about THEIR MANAGER enabling and supporting their people to be successful in managing their DAY TO DAY RESPONSIBILITIES.

Additionally, Gallup has been telling us for decades that the first line manager is the most dominant causal factor in whether an employee decides to stay or to go. They also preach a coaching model where there are regular catchups between an employee and THEIR MANAGER and they feel trusted and supported in undertaking their DAY TO DAY RESPONSIBILITIES.

So there isn’t really anything new in these latest findings from SEEK, is there?

Our “EngageMentality Coaching” model has been specifically designed to help managers to become coaches and be a reason why people want to stay because they feel trusted, supported and appreciated.

Perks are nice but…….

Over the last couple of years, we have seen new positive duties being introduced to prevent sexual harassment and gender-based behaviour and to eliminate or control psychosocial hazards. That is because, in too many workplaces, people aren’t enjoying work – the SEEK study showed that nearly half of the people surveyed said they were not happy at work.

The COVID experience has had the effect of causing people to reevaluate their priorities in life and what they want to do in a work sense, who they want to do it with and where they want to do it.

The value of the SEEK news is that it brings us back to what really matters when it comes to how we help people to enjoy work and be productive so that business and employees flourish together.

That is what PosWork is about – we have the tools and programs to help your workplace to flourish by design.

If you would like to explore the ways that we might be able to help you to make yours a great workplace, please call us on 1300 108 488 or email info@poswork.com.au.