Job happiness will improve your health

Job happiness will improve your health

New Jobsite research reveals job happiness will improve your health

15/11/2007

Some people see work as a means to an end but being happy and in the right job can actually improve your health. An experiment from Jobsite, one of the UK’s leading online recruiters, reveals workers are twice as likely to avoid fast food, twice as likely to take exercise and twice as likely to have sex with their partner – whilst smoke and drink much less after a good day at work.

Plus it’s not just workers themselves who reap the rewards of a good day at work- 68% of parents with children return home to spend quality time with their kids, from helping with bath-time and homework to reading bedtime stories – a percentage figure which decreases to 36% following a bad day at work.

The Jobsite “Happy Days” research examines the impact of being happy at work and the immediate effect of a good and bad work-day on an evening at home. Researchers questioned workers at 20 commuter train stations across the country and collected saliva samples on both a work day and a leisure day to compare stress and immune levels to determine the changes in behaviour after a day at work.

The publication of the research marks the launch of the Jobsite Happy Days campaign which challenges UK workers to measure how happy they are and the impact their current job is having on their home life by taking the Jobsite Happy Days test.

The test, which has been designed in conjunction with leading psychologist David Moxon, proved that overall being happy and in the right job can be beneficial to a person’s health, as happy workers are more likely to have a higher immune system, lower stress levels and a good sense of well-being. A bad day, on the other hand, causes a third of adults (33%) to turn to alcohol and one in 10 (13%) to smoke. In fact, unhappy workers are likely to drink a higher quantity of booze and smoke more after a typical days work.

Around half (47%) of the working population has a bad day at least once a week and four in 10 (46%) say a bad day impacts negatively on their health and home life. More than a third (35%) of workers will take their mood out on their partner and one in 10 (13%) will pick an argument following a tough day at work. Being in the wrong job is likely to cause stress (51% of adults), loss of sleep (38%), headaches (22%), exhaustion (29%) and depression for one in 10 (12%) – and close to four in 10 (38%) feel too tired to do anything after a bad day at the office.

Keith Potts, Jobsite CEO, comments: “Most jobs bring with them their own stresses and strains but this experiment really hits home the impact of having a good and bad day at work. Close to a quarter (24%) of UK workers are currently unhappy with their job – and we are urging people to make sure they are happy at work because there are repercussions on their diet, well-being and happiness. If a good day at work is a rarity and a bad day is happening all too often we would encourage people to take the Jobsite Happy Days test and take some action”

Psychologist David Moxon who was part of the research team, described the importance of the findings:” Unhappiness at work can have a huge impact on your home-life and there is evidence to suggest that on-going unhappiness at work can be detrimental to both the physical and mental health and well-being of workers. Anyone who is currently unhappy should think about their options and consider changing jobs to improve their happiness, health and well-being.”

If you’d like to find out more about our “Happiness @ Work” programs please call 02 9221 3306 or email info@thehappinessinstitute.com.