5 Habits That Can Increase Job Satisfaction

Since a happy employee is more likely to be a productive employee, would you consider investing in happiness training?

In his article The Happiness Dividend, Shawn Anchor of the Harvard Business Review demonstrates that overall employee happiness has a quantifiable ROI in terms of sales, productivity, accuracy on tasks, and health and lifestyle benefits.

Anchor, in fact, conducts a study where managers are given a three hour introduction to positive psychology research and how to apply such principles in the workplace. The employees are evaluated using comprehensive standard metrics before the training, a week after the training, and four months later. The results showed that every single positive metric improved significantly as a result of the exercise.

Drawing upon his knowledge of positive psychology and the impact gratitude, focusing on positive experiences, exercise, meditating, and random acts of kindness can have on the pattern through which your brain views work , Anchor recommends that you try developing the same 5 habits he asked those who participated in the study to incorporate into their daily routine:

• Write down three new things you are grateful for each day;
• Write for 2 minutes a day describing one positive experience you had over the past 24 hours;
• Exercise for 10 minutes a day;
• Meditate for 2 minutes, focusing on your breath going in and out;
• Write one, quick email first thing in the morning thanking or praising a member on your team.

Based on his findings, Anchors believes that a company can influence employee happiness with a “short intervention and low investment of resources,” with long lasting effects that can withstand even difficult times.

If these 5 habits made such a difference in the lives of the managers he studied, perhaps they can work for you as well.