Promotions, pay rises ‘don’t make people happy at work’

MELBOURNE - Unhappy at workplace and think that a promotion or pay hike would cheer you up? Well, you may be wrong, for an expert has suggested happiness at work is all about attitude and nothing else.

Srikumar Rao, a Columbia University professor and author of ‘Happiness at Work,’ has said that being happy at work is all about attitude, rather than ticking goals off a to-do list.

“The single biggest obstacle to workplace happiness is the belief that we are prisoners of circumstance, powerless before the things that happen to us,” News.com.au quoted her as saying.

“To change your job, you must change the way you think about it. We create our own experience.”

Melbourne-based life coach Marion Lawrence agreed, saying people who subscribe to an “if I get a promotion/pay rise/quit my job, then I will be happy” attitude will never be fulfilled.

“That kind of attitude relies on an external reward to trigger happiness.

“The problem is, when those things you have aimed towards arrive, the happiness doesn’t last because you are conditioned to look to the next goal,” she said.

Lawrence said employers could play an important role in making their employees happy and increase the productivity of their staff by encouraging relaxation and making sure they focused on their individual wellbeing.

“There is a paradox in that people who are happier in the present tend to see and take more opportunities than those who are constantly waiting for some future event to bring them contentment,” she added. (ANI)