Why Being Happy with Your Job is So Important

A recent article about the effects of unhappiness at the workplace got me thinking about the reasons why enjoying your work is so important. Here’s some food for thought about the importance of being happy with your occupation and place of work and why it is critical to your life satisfaction:

• Psychologically healthy workers focus more on work than distractions
• Workers unhappy with their job are at greater likelihood to be diagnosed with depression and anxiety
• Job dissatisfaction leads to higher incidence of burnout
• Being unhappy at work can affect your self-esteem negatively
• Employees who are not engaged and not happy at work tend to use more sick days (an annual cost of $28,000 in sick days per worker)
• Disengaged workers report higher levels of stress and are at greater risk of heart disease
• Employees who are frustrated at work are more likely quit, retaliate, engage in absenteeism or chronic lateness

So, if you are unhappy at work or with your job and any of this sounds familiar, you need to think about your next steps — whether that may be a career change, a company change. As an employer if you are seeing any of these behaviors, it’s important to support your employees in their struggles. Start today in finding help–make an appointment with a career counselor or executive coach and get moving forward on the road to workplace and life happiness.