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Secretaries have come second in a UK poll listing the top 10 happiest workers, topped only by teachers, with 83% saying they loved with their job.

The overall happiness and enjoyment experienced by those in the secretarial profession was put down to the balance of amount of workload and responsibility being just right for those in a secretarial position. Many have stated that they felt there was enough responsibility and work available to challenge and fulfil inquisitive minds, but not so much that they felt overly stressed and pressured in their work life.

Is It Really Possible To Be Happy In Your Work?

Many people are still sceptical about whether the words ‘happy’ and ‘job’ ever belong in the same sentence, as there is a real belief, all over the UK and Ireland especially, that you can never truly be happy in a job.

Every job has its pit falls, after all, you wouldn’t have to pay someone to do it if it was that enjoyable that people strived to perform even the most mundane and unwelcomed tasks involved in any position. But there is a recipe for true job happiness.

Now let’s be realistic, you aren’t going to be 100% happy and enjoy every single task put before you all of the time, but if you can wake up in the morning and not dread going to work each and every day, and not feel like the hours are constantly dragging as you slowly wish your life away one working day at a time, then that’s got to be worth something hasn’t it?

The Recipe For Happiness In Your Career

If you can have just couple of these things in your working life, you can guarantee your job will be much easier, and hey, you might even be able to call yourself ‘happy in your job’!

• Good relationships: Being on good terms with your boss and other colleagues is one of the best ways to make your job easier, and it’s something you can actually work on. Making an extra effort to get to know those you spend the majority of your time with, such as going for after-work drinks or other out of work social activities can really improve your outlook on work itself.
• Sociable Hours: We are naturally sociable creatures, and therefore working within the hours of 9am and 5pm, with evenings and weekends free to spend with friends and family is proven to increase the positivity a person feels towards their job. Our spare time and what we do with it plays a huge part in our happiness not just in work but in life, and many people find that a job with the same amount of work/responsibility but more unsociable hours is much more stressful than a 9-5 job. Many people even choose or change their career path based on those favourable working hours, opting to do qualifications such as the secretarial diploma which allows them to enter a position with just great benefits.
• Responsibility/Workload Balance: Getting this balance just right can lead to you being much happier in your job, as is shown by the recent poll that showed secretaries pegged this as a reason for loving their jobs. It does tend to play out that the more money you are payed, the larger the responsibility and workload becomes, and just to prove money isn’t everything, many people opt to take a lower paid role to achieve this more favourable workload and responsibility balance.

There may be no such thing as being 100% happy in your work, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy your job. And with the right recipe for happiness in place, everyone can be a lot happier to be doing the work they do. 

By

Maria Lalor

25/06/2013