The vast majority of us have to work. Work is what provides us with the money we need to live. Whether that’s putting a roof over our head, food on our table, clothes on our backs or providing for our nearest and dearest. Work can also allow us to enjoy the finer things in life, helping us to generate a disposable income that can be used on holidays, days out, meals, the cinema, the theatre and so much more. When it comes down to it, for most of us, work is an essential and something that we have no choice but to do. But this doesn’t mean that it has to be a dull, draining or negative experience. Instead, being happy at work is extremely important – after all, if you’re going to spend eight hours a day, five days a week doing something, you should find it at least bearable. Now, positive working doesn’t always come naturally and you may find that you need to take steps to actively make your experience of work more positive. Here are some suggestions that can help you to lead the happiest work life possible!
Determine Your Current Happiness With Your Current Work
If you’re already in a job, consider whether you are actually happy in the position you’re in. How do you find yourself feeling when you get up each morning? Do you not mind heading into the workplace or is this something you dread? Do you find yourself clock watching until the end of each day or are you content and occupied throughout your working hours? Remember that you don’t have to stick in your job if you’re not enjoying. There are countless jobs out there and it’s always possible to move and switch companies or even careers if you like.
Consider a New Job
If you decide that your current position isn’t for you, you may want to consider seeking out a new job. This can drastically alter your day to day work life and can see great improvements in your job satisfaction and happiness levels. You should make sure that you seek out a role that gives you good job satisfaction – this means that you’ll be in a position where you derive feelings of happiness or contentment in what you do. There are a number of considerations to take into account when determining what new role could tick all of your boxes. Here are some to start out with.
What Role Would You Enjoy?
Start out by considering what types of roles you’d enjoy working in. Do you like to work with animals? Start looking into positions like dog walker, dog groomer, pet sitter, veterinary assistant, veterinary practitioner, farm hand and more. Do you like working with children? You could become a teacher, a childminder, work in social services or become a pediatrician. Do you want to work indoors in an office-type space or have a more customer facing role? Maybe you’d like to work outdoors in a more manual and hands on role. Do you like to work independently or in a group? Do you like to wear uniforms like greys anatomy scrubs from Uniform Advantage? Nursing, doctor, surgeon and other roles could suit you. All of these different factors should help to guide you towards finding the right type of role to suit your needs.
What Industry or Field Do You Want to Work In?
Next you need to consider what industry or field of specialism you want to work in. You could work in one role but the experience will be completely different depending on the sector you want to work in. For example, being a copywriter for a pet food company will be a very different experience to being a copywriter for a tech company or funeral director. Think of what the different industries or fields will entail on various different levels – from whether you will be interested in the field to what emotional toll it could take.
What Salary Are You Looking For?
How much do you want to earn? Switching job roles can come hand in hand with a change to your salary. If you are moving from one role into a similar role at a different company, you can easily maintain your salary expectations and may even be able to job hop into higher paying roles. If you’re completely switching careers, you may find that you have to take a few steps back down the career ladder or start from the bottom, meaning that you will need to accept a lower salary in order to make the switch, then work your way back up the career ladder again. Consider your personal financial commitments when making these decisions. You may have outgoings that require you to make a certain amount of money, meaning you need to consider roles that support or maintain your lifestyle.
Where Do You Want to Work?
Since the outbreak of Covid-19, many positions are now remote based. As business owners tried to find ways to help their staff continue working while abiding by no-contact guidelines, more people started working from home and found that it was a preferable option for them. Cutting out commuting has drastically increased many people’s happiness, allowing them more time to themselves in the mornings, reducing outgoings on commute costs and parking costs and generally reducing stress. More comfortable working environments where you can control the temperature, use your own bathroom and use your kitchen to create healthier and more enjoyable lunches have also contributed to high rates of remote work staff satisfaction. Employers have benefited too in that they don’t have to pay for commercial premises and overheads. If you’re looking for remote work, the good news is that it’s more abundant than ever.
What Hours Do You Want to Work?
Working hours can greatly influence whether a position is right for you or not. Some people require flexible working hours for their job to fit in well with their lifestyle. Perhaps you have children, elderly loved ones to look after, disabled loved ones to look after, pets or other commitments that mean you can’t work the standard nine to five. Maybe you need to attend regular health appointments mid day. Whatever your reasons, you need to make sure that a position is happy with flexible working hours before committing to it.
Setting a Positive Work-Life Balance
No matter what role you work in, you need to make sure that you’re maintaining a positive work-life balance. All too many people allow their work to spill over into their personal lives, spending their free time checking emails, completing projects or otherwise working when they should be enjoying themselves. It’s important that you set boundaries with both yourself and your managers or bosses to ensure that you are only working the hours agreed in your contract. Set yourself working hours and make sure to stick to them. Once your shift is up, close your laptop, turn off your work phone and keep that time to yourself and your personal pursuits.
Resolve Conflicts
Are you experiencing conflicts at work? It’s important that you resolve these quickly, as conflict can be greatly detrimental to your working experience. There are many ways to go about this, and the first is to generally talk to your manager. They’ll be able to take a look at the situation and provide resolutions, such as talks, reducing contact between certain team members and more. If your issue is more serious, or is an issue with your manager, you should head to the company’s HR department. They’ll be able to manage the situation and offer effective conflict resolution.
Manage Your Workload
You need to make sure that your workload isn’t overwhelming you. Excessive targets, tight deadlines and heavy workloads tend to be some of the most common causes of stress at work. It’s important to stay organised while working. Having a clear plan of how you can meet your goals on time can help you to stay on track. If your workloads are unachievable, it’s important that you discuss this with your manager, who can help to distribute work more evenly and fairly and to ensure that all goals set are SMART goals.
Focus on Progression
It’s a good idea to make sure that you’re progressing in your career. This can help to prevent you from feeling stagnant in your role. Progression comes hand in hand with benefits from increased pay to an increased sense of job satisfaction. Discuss progression opportunities with your manager. Many workplaces are happy to offer training and qualifications that will help you to build your skillset and continually learn. You may also want to set up a five year plan and ask how your company can support you in progressing with this.
There are so many factors that can impact how positive you feel in the workplace and the steps outlined above should just be the start of your journey towards leading a happier work life. Hopefully, some of the suggestions will really come in useful for you!
