Happiness and a thing called Work

While we at HelloComputer place an emphasis on a good ol’ time, there is a real world out there, and it’s tapping its foot for some of the creative spice for which we have become known. There’s deadlines. Bombed creative. Technical glitches and surprises. Annoying clients (somebody had to say it!) And of course, our personal expectations of ourselves. All of this and more can easily rob us of our enthusiasm and lightheartedness.

“I swear to fucking god, I am going on holiday and never coming back” an uncharacteristically fed up Mark Tomlinson blasted off in my office recently.

Hey, we all know the feeling, right Brad? Hehe.

It would seem that the expectations of working place fulfillment have never been higher. We want the big bucks, the cushy job, the incredible perks and benefits. And we want flexi-time. Not to mention a healthy amount of time off. Expectations of the working world were not always so. There was a time when a stable job was revered. Here is an anecdote from the previous generation.

“My father worked for the United States Postal Service for thirty years. He received incremental pay raises, a steady paycheck, a pension, rarely worked a day of overtime, and even received an award for never taking a sick day in fifteen years. He was in at 8:30am and home by 5:30pm, and I never heard him complain once about his job.”

While his son describes his career as such:

“In the last ten years I have held a total of seven “career” positions, and I have been in business for myself. I have been a copywriter, design technologist, Web developer, creative consultant, interface developer and I am currently employed as a software engineer. I have worked anywhere from eight- to twenty-hour days, and my pay grade has varied by as much as $50k. Without asking, you could presume I am never happy with my work.”

What has changed? Why are we so restless; so ambitious?

Happiness in the work place has become the obsession of many companies seeking to maximize profitability through content, motivated staff, and minimize staff turnover, which is in itself is costly and disruptive to business. No-one has pushed the concept as far (or marketed it) as Google.

Google claims to have the answer to staff morale. Shower them with lavish perks and benefits! And I got to admit their approach certainly sounds attractive. In fact I hope that their reticence is only due to the serious consideration of my CV. Apparently they receive 3000 applications a day for a company with 4000 staff. And this is why:

• Free meals in its 11 gourmet restaurants
• On site doctors, dry cleaners and gym facilities
• Free childcare
• Swimming spas
• Guest speakers like Barack Obama
• Pets at work
• Onsite car servicing
• Massage Therapy

A sarcastic blogger noted that they even have secret benefits like…

‘Aging female engineers, now coming to terms with the fact that they likely never be mothers receive two weeks of “crushing sense of Incompleteness Leave.”

Apparently, despite the plush accoutrements, all is not well in paradise. Google is finding to its astonishment, that for the first time in its history, employees are leaving in droves. At Microsoft, or especially at Apple (notorious for its high turnover in upper management), this would seem business as usual. But for Google this is strange and frightening unfamiliar territory.
Some comments from its staff:

“Google hires programmers straight out of college and tempts them with all the benefits of college life. Indeed, as the hiring brochures stress, the place was explicitly modeled upon college… But as the gleam wears off the Google, I can see why it’s no place anyone would want to hang around for that long.“

“The fun just leads up to a big disappointing realization about the true nature of the work!”

“It’s just like college, but with a paycheck!’ which sounds great to a 22 year old, but isn’t so nice when you are 30, have a wife and two kids, and really don’t want to collaborate with your co-workers at 2AM because that is when they are at their ‘most productive’. Suddenly 9-5 ‘normal’ jobs get a hell of a lot more attractive.”

Some analysts say that employees may feel that Google is trying too hard. Can you believe that?

GOOGLE IS TRYING TOO HARD!

Well, those two billionaire geniuses from Stanford University that started Google must be stumped!

So, can a company make its staff happy? Truly happy?

One gent who would beg to differ is the Buddha. The Buddha discovered the way to happiness through realizing the true nature of life and this universe. And that craving for permanent and complete satisfaction would ensure we were always miserable.

A spiritual perspective makes the pursuit of happiness through corporate perks and benefits seem rather inane. They might make work comfortable. Enjoyable too. But sustainable fulfillment will evade us. Indeed, happiness is complicated. Your personality stems from your genetic make-up, your upbringing and your life experiences. There is no single model for happiness, either for you to be happy or which will be applicable, to you, for your whole life. In order to move in the direction of self realization you will need to know your value set and move according to your life stage. We are happiest following our own path and your duty unto yourself is to understand, discover and pursue your own.

There is some practical guidance that can assist should you not be up for the heavy soul searching right now.

Health, Nutrition and Fitness
Being Kind & Being Positive
Sleep
And a regular big fat belly laugh!

But having a sense of purpose in life is key! And for that you need to understand your value set. It’s quite simple really. Here is a practical example: when a topic catches your attention, and you feel your energy levels rise, and you wish to contribute to it, you can intuit that it sits higher than normal on your value set. If someone starts blabbing and your eyes glaze over and you start to drool, it probably isn’t that important to you.

Companies have spent millions of dollars on researching the essence of Motivation. In fact, someone even coined Motivational Theory which goes like this:

Alignment of aims, purpose and values between staff, teams and organization is the most fundamental aspect of motivation. The better the alignment and personal association with organizational aims, the better the platform for motivation.

You can be forgiven for feeling queasy. And let’s face it, motivated staff doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re happy. The essential difference between being motivated to do something and being inspired to do it, is whether the task/topic is high on you value set or not.

Research in the UK found that 51% of people regarded their work as a ‘means to an end.’ 24% considered work not to be a source of personal fulfillment. Sounds like a lot of trapped individuals.

HelloComputer’s values are a celebration of Creativity, Individuality, Team Work, Smart Work, Professionalism, Innovation, Fun and Improvement. People who don’t share these values won’t be happy here, regardless of the WII, free beer and creative opportunities. Those that share them will find the environment, er, blissful! Hehe.

Ok, granted you might share those values but wish to have your own company. Or just be in the wrong industry. This could lead to resentment and ultimately unhappiness. As mentioned earlier your path to happiness is unique from anyone else’s. That is why you need to honour where you are at in you life stage, and move according to its changing landscape.

So, in conclusion a company, in isolation, cannot make you sustainably happy. To be happy you need to do what you love, and this means discovering your personal value set and understanding where you are at in you life stage. You will be inspired to pursue those things that are high on your value set and ultimately discover that happiness and a thing called work can coexist.