Happy workers are productive workers. Unfortunately, happiness and work are two mutually exclusive things for many people.
Aside from dealing with work stress and annoying co-workers, many employees are also growing dissatisfied with their current jobs.
According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2022, sixty percent (60%) of people reported being emotionally detached from work, and nineteen percent (19%) reported feeling miserable.
This general dissatisfaction towards work is problematic, as one of the keys for a healthy and productive workplace is job satisfaction. Happy and satisfied employees tend to be more hardworking, collaborative with co-workers, and have a better work-life balance.
Fortunately, there are healthy workplace habits you can practice, both as an employee and boss, to help people feel more satisfied at work.
What are these habits of happy workers, you may ask? Let’s find out.
They’re Good Listeners.
One of the most crucial habits of happy workers is their tendency to really listen.
A typical mistake workers and bosses make when communicating with their co-workers or team is attempting to dominate conversations. Especially the latter, as they think doing so is a sign of good leadership.
More often than not, this causes their subordinates to feel distant from them and think that they’re just bossing them around.
Remember, communication is a two-way street. In order to develop strong relationships with your co-workers or team, you must really listen to them. It prevents workplace conflicts and misunderstandings from emerging between you and your co-workers or subordinates.
Listening well also helps you gain new insights and lessons on how to do better at your job. After all, no matter how skilled we are, we can and should always be open to learning new ways to work.
Happy Workers Celebrate Even the Small Victories.
A great way to motivate workers to work harder is by celebrating their achievements. It makes us feel appreciated and like we belong to a group.
In addition, celebrating small victories also releases dopamine in your brain, which helps you feel pleasure, satisfaction, and motivation.
Thus, another excellent work habit you should learn from happy workers is that they celebrate all their victories, no matter how big or small.
This could be as simple as treating yourself for a job well done. Or it could be celebrating with your team after finishing a long and challenging project.
But how would you know if something you’ve achieved is worth celebrating? One way to do so is by using Key Productivity Indicators (KPIs). These are collected, analyzed, and summarized data used to measure your long-term performance.
For example, you’re working for a company’s marketing department, and your team achieved one of your minor KPIs. Why not commemorate this by hosting a small virtual celebration with the rest of your team?
Sure, it’s not as big as achieving your bigger long-term team goals. But you gotta start somewhere, right?
Happy Workers Are Transparent With Their Co-workers.
Trust is another crucial factor in forming healthy working relationships with your co-workers. It helps you be more comfortable in expressing your thoughts and opinions with them, which improves your ability to work together.
But if you want your co-workers to trust you, you should first show that you’re trustworthy. By being transparent with your co-workers and/or subordinates, you help improve their job satisfaction and encourage them to share their ideas with everyone.
For example, if you’re a team leader, you should keep everyone updated on what’s happening in the company. Doing so helps them know where their efforts are going and whether it bears any fruit.
They Take Care of Themselves.
A happy worker is a healthy worker. Besides taking care of your social life, you shouldn’t forget about taking care of your body too. This means watching what you eat, when you sleep, and finding time to exercise in your busy schedule.
Besides keeping your body in tip-top shape, another benefit of these habits of happy workers is that they can improve one’s self-confidence. In fact, exercising releases endorphins that can help you relax and destress, perfect after a hard day at work.
Of course, you will need the correct diet to fuel you for a busy day of work. Sure, it’s much more convenient to just have fast food, but these are often unhealthy and could result in long-term health issues.
In addition, getting seven to eight hours of sleep every day will help you wake up refreshed, re-energized, and eager to work. Personally, getting more sleep helped keep my mood even and decreased my stress at the start of the day.
Happy Workers Hang Out With Other Happy Workers.
As the saying goes: “birds of the same feather flock together.” If the people you interact with all day are always gloomy, you will also become gloomy. To lift your mood, you should surround yourself with positive people at work.
Engaging with positive people will help you look at and approach things more positively. Positive people can make even the dullest and most tedious meetings fun and exciting. So if you want to be happier at work, associating with these types of people is a great start.
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life!
It’s not always easy to be happy at work, particularly if your job is demanding. Or if there’s a co-worker that you don’t particularly get along with.
But by trying out these habits of happy workers, you’ll increase your chances of feeling a lot more satisfied while working in your office or online job.
If you’re looking for remote jobs that’ll make you happy, Remote Staff is the place to go. Our jobs list has a wide variety of online jobs you could choose from, so you’ll never run out of options. Good luck!
