Stop Chasing Happiness At Work – Start The 365give Challenge

Are you chasing happiness at work by looking for a promotion, a larger salary, working long hours in hope to be noticed? We do spend a lot of time at work, so we would hope happiness would come with it. Some of us are lucky, and happiness is part of our work day. There are companies that have created a happiness culture that sits well with us. But there are some of us that are chasing after happiness at work and just are not finding it. Some of us quit, some of us work harder in hopes to find happiness, some of us just stay unhappy and find this portion of our life will remain this way.

But it does not have to be that way. Happiness can be found at work without striving for that promotion, or hoping for a raise, and working so hard we just don’t have enough energy for the rest of our lives. This suggestion is going to sound unusual but research suggests that it actually works. When employees are happier at work, they are more productive, they do get that raise they were hoping for, the days seems shorter (event though you are putting in the same amount of hours) and the work that seemed oh so hard before becomes easier, the challenges less overwhelming.

Ready for the key to a happier work day and happier employees. Starting a culture of giving within the work place. In a research paper “Ripples of Generosity in the Workplace: The Benefits of Giving, Getting, and Glimpsing” completed by Joseph Andrew Chancellor in 2013, the results are clear for giving in the workplace:

“Givers also became more positively engaged in their work as indicated by significant increases in flow, a finding that might seem counter-intuitive, given that Givers had more “work” to do because of their acts of kindness assignment. However, a key aspect of the experience of
flow is that individuals forget themselves as they become drawn into challenging yet engrossing tasks. Excessive self-focus may impede this process, or alternatively, less selffocus may facilitate it. Because Givers’ assignments helped them focus on others and feel
better (by reducing bothersome depressive symptoms), they may have more easily lost themselves in engrossing tasks at work. In sum, our results suggest that being around a generous person is a positive experience, even when one is not the recipient. Givers’ acts of kindness rendered those around them happier, more satisfied with life, more satisfied with their jobs, and feeling more connected with others… Thus, supporting our greater-Giver-influence hypothesis, the well-being benefits from Givers’ practice of generosity spilled over…”

If you want to dive further into the research of how giving increases the happiness of employees, this is a paper worth reading!

Researched Benefits of Giving at Work

Here are the benefits of giving at work, no matter what type of employment you have:

• Boosts employee engagement
• Generates a positive community image
• Maintains a positive company culture
• Increases creativity
• Increases overall employee happiness and well being
• Builds employees’ sense of pride
• Promotes team building and collaboration
• Creates a common company goal
• Increases employee work performance

How to Start Giving at Work

365give has all the tools you need to start giving at work. Our 365give Challenge is designed to help people start giving, plan their gives and set an example how giving will make you happier, the receiver happier, and those who observe kindness and giving actions. The gives are easy and fall into three categories. Gives for the planet, give for people, and gives to animals. When you diversify your daily giving to include all of these areas, you will find yourself happier at work and your well being enhanced on a daily basis. Sounds a bit crazy no? Well there are bodies of research that prove kindness and giving do make us happier and more productive in our every day lives and this research from JA Chancellor does show how giving helps us at work. A happier employee and groups of employees creates a happier culture.

So what are you waiting for? Start the 365give Challenge and see how your happiness improves, how your well being increases and all because you start giving every day at work and create a giving culture at your work place. It is as simple as that. And you dont have to be a manager or owner to start the 365 Challenge in your workplace. Be the leader you know you are and start a giving practice.