Page 12 - AeM_August_2017

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Happiness doesn’t come cheap,

but it pays up…

In many ways, there’s no such thing as ‘just a job’. much evidence to prove it. But little research has been
What we do within our 9-to-5 work week is powerful. done on what makes staff really happy ‒ until now.
Work defines and shapes us; it takes the form of Australia’s Curtin University, in collaboration with Mak-
our personal fingerprint on society. And consider- ing Work Absolutely Human (mwah.), has conducted a
ing that the average person will give 100 000 hours nationwide research that asks the questions: What
to working over a lifetime, our jobs are anything but makes someone want to get up and give it their all, day
a sideline gig in the greater narrative of life. Our after day? What kind of organizational culture fosters
work is deeply personal, grafted into the mesh of happy people with a deep sense of purpose and per-
our unique human design. sonal fulfilment? As we may have expected, they found
money isn’t everything. Interestingly enough though,
In spite of this, when it comes to measuring organiza- when money isn’t everything, it just happens to multiply
tional success, we’re quick to draw lines and dehuman- anyway.
ize the discussion. Profit margins and first mover ad-
vantage drive the language of performance that per- What matters most
vades our corporate conversations. Utilization and ex-
pediency are what turn company heads and steer stra- “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to
tegic leadership. work a day in your life.” We’ve all heard this before, and
for those privileged enough to relate, it’s a statement
And though aiming to win is a natural and healthy by- that mwah. research has discovered to be all too true in
product of business, the danger lies in our diagnostics. Australia. Findings reveal that while salary, job security
Should we fail to perform a full-bodied assessment of and hours of work count, it’s the job itself that matters
our organizations and take the temperature of our peo- most. People want to fundamentally believe in what
ple along the way, we may be sustaining a pandemic they do ‒ whether it is tinning top quality tomatoes or
known as short-termism. driving social activism. Of almost equal importance is
the culture in which you work and the people with
Studies have repeatedly shown that a highly engaged whom you do it.
workforce means the difference between a company
that outperforms its competitors and one that fails to These imperatives echo the theory of self-
reach its potential. Engagement activates, and there is determination, which argues that competence (growth
12 August 2017 - Search Engine Marketing & Optimization