Happiness at Work

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• Happiness at Work
• Andrew Oswald
• University of Warwick, UK
• With many thanks to Professor Andrew E. Clark
  (Paris) for data and helpful advice.

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• Job satisfaction and work happiness have been
  studied in two ways.

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Method 1

• By asking people what they want in a job.

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Method 2

• By studying the statistical determinants of
  job satisfaction.

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• What do employees say they want in a job?

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Peoples top two priorities
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Peoples top two priorities

• Job security

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Peoples top two priorities

• Job security
• Work that is interesting

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The next four priorities
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The next four priorities

• A job that allows me to work independently

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The next four priorities

• A job that allows me to work independently
• Opportunities for advancement

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The next four priorities

• A job that allows me to work independently
• Opportunities for advancement
• A job useful for society

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The next four priorities

• A job that allows me to work independently
• Opportunities for advancement
• A job useful for society
• High income

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• We have data on all this, from the
  International Social Survey Programme, for 15
  countries.

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• Now to the literature on the determinants of job
  satisfaction.

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Regression equations

• Job satisfaction f(Age, gender, pay,
  education level, workplace characteristics, job
  security, region, year)

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A typical question

• All things considered, how satisfied are you
  with your job?
• Answers from 1, 2, ... 7
• 7 Completely satisfied
• 1 Completely dissatisfied

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Some cheery news

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• European levels of job satisfaction are high.
• 5.4 out of seven

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• In our work, we have new data on random samples
  from 35 countries.

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Findings on job satisfaction

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Findings on job satisfaction

• Pay
• Large workplace
• Female
• Job security
• Education
• Autonomy

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Findings on job satisfaction

• Pay positive
• Large workplace
• Female
• Job security
• Education
• Autonomy

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Findings on job satisfaction

• Pay positive
• Large workplace negative
• Female
• Job security
• Education
• Autonomy

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Findings on job satisfaction

• Pay positive
• Large workplace negative
• Female positive
• Job security
• Education
• Autonomy

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Findings on job satisfaction

• Pay positive
• Large workplace negative
• Female positive
• Job security positive
• Education
• Autonomy

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Findings on job satisfaction

• Pay positive
• Large workplace negative
• Female positive
• Job security positive
• Education zero
• Autonomy

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Findings on job satisfaction

• Pay positive
• Large workplace negative
• Female positive
• Job security positive
• Education zero
• Autonomy positive

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On pay
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On pay

• There is a lot of research that shows it is
  relative pay (particularly the ordinal rank of
  pay) that matters.

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On autonomy
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On autonomy

• Who controls the pace of work is important. It
  is OK if customers and colleagues do. Not when
  bosses or machines do.

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On autonomy

• Who controls the pace of work is important. It
  is OK if customers and colleagues do. Not when
  bosses or machines do.
• Some evidence that it pays to give employees
  small freedoms (like the ability to move their
  desk slightly).

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• There is also an intriguing life-cycle pattern

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• Watch out for mid-life, and dont be too hard on
  yourself.

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The U in job satisfaction through life
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• This mirrors a general mid-life psychological
  low period (or crisis) that is normal in humans.

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The pattern of a typical persons happiness
through life
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The probability of depression by age Males, LFS
data set 2004-2006
0.02
0.015
0.01
Regression coefficient
0.005
0
-0.005
-0.01
1938
1942
1946
1950
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
Year of birth
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Great apes also have a midlife low

• We recently published this finding in the
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  of the USA (joint with A Weiss et al.)

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Now, promotion
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• Do you, and should you, want to be promoted?

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• Leadership is associated with lower levels of
  stress, Proceedings of the National Academy of
  Sciences of the USA, 2012.
• Gary D. Sherman et al.

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• Using unique samples of real leaders, including
  military officers and government officials ...
  leaders had lower levels of the stress hormone
  cortisol and lower anxiety.

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• Yet new longitudinal research sheds doubt on
  the causality.

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• Extra Status and Extra Stress Are Promotions
  Good for Us?by David W. Johnston, Wang-Sheng
  Lee(June 2012) published in Industrial and
  Labor Relations Review, 2013, 66 (1), 32-54

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• Yes, promotion improves job security, pay
  perceptions and job satisfaction in the short
  term...

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• However, promotions have negligible effects on
  workers' health and happiness... mental health
  seems affected with .. a deterioration two years
  after promotion.

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• Is work getting more stressful?
• Yes
• Work by Francis Green, Keith Whitfield, et al.

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Proportion of High-Strain Jobs
Green (2008) Work Effort and Worker Well-Being in
the Age of Affluence
Source Skills Survey series
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• But should organizations want their workers to
  have high job satisfaction?

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• Very probably, yes.
• Happiness makes people more productive.

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Positive effects for organizations from job
satisfaction

• Edmans, A. 2012. The link between job
  satisfaction and firm value, with implications
  for corporate social responsibility. Academy of
  Management Perspectives 26, 1-19.
• Bockerman, P Ilmakannus, P. 2012. The Job
  Satisfaction-Productivity Nexus A Study Using
  Matched Survey and Register Data. Industrial and
  Labor Relations Review, 26, 1-19.

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The Edmans study

• To address reverse causality, I measure firm
  value by using future stock returns ...
• ....Companies listed in the "100 Best Companies
  to Work For in America" generated 2.3 to 3.8
  higher stock returns per year than their peers
  from 1984 through 2011.

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• The Bockerman paper studies data on 1000
  establishments in Finland.
• It finds a strong correlation between job
  satisfaction and value-added-per-worker 2 years
  later.

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A Warwick University study

• We studied 500 people in the laboratory doing a
  white collar task under timed pressure.

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• Those with recent family bad life events were
  less happy and less productive.
• A random sample were made to laugh for 10 minutes
  first they were then 12 more productive.

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• Just before I close

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• Job satisfaction and mental well-being at work
  are of interest in themselves.

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• But, more broadly, there seem to be deep links
  between mind and body.

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The work of Sheldon Cohen

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The work of Sheldon Cohen

• The Cohen laboratory trials show less-stressed
  people have a stronger immune system.

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• Author(s) Ebrecht M, Hextall J, Kirtley LG,
  Taylor A, Dyson M, Weinman J
• PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY    
• Volume 29    Issue 6    Pages
  798-809    Published JUL 2004 

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• In other words, happier human beings heal more
  quickly.

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• We need to understand these interconnections
  better.

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Some ideas to end

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Conclusions

• 1 There are clear patterns in job satisfaction
  found across the industrialized nations.

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Conclusions

• 2 High job satisfaction seems genuinely
  valuable for organizations.

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Conclusions

• 3 It is probably also valuable for peoples
  physical health.

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Conclusions

• 4 Bosses do have lower cortisol and higher job
  satisfaction, but it is not clear that promotion
  does that to them.

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Conclusions

• 5 There is some evidence that mental strain at
  work is a growing problem in Europe.

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Conclusions

• 6 Giving people small freedoms probably pays
  off commercially.

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I know you believe in fun at work
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• Happiness at Work
• Andrew Oswald
• University of Warwick, UK
• With many thanks to Professor Andrew E. Clark
  (Paris) for data and helpful advice.