Meredith Lepore* says that a lot of factors determine our happiness, but new research has uncovered how we can control our work which will improve everything.
Photo: Helloquence
There is a big difference between people who like their jobs and those who are truly happy and find joy every day in their careers.
Now a lot of factors determine your happiness and some of them can be out of your control, like a bad boss or toxic work culture, but new research from LinkedIn has found something you can control in your work that will improve everything.
If you spend a portion of every workday learning, you will see some dramatic results.
The survey questioned 2,049 workers including freelancers and entrepreneurs, in the US, the UK, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, France, Australia, India, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
“Heavy” learners, defined as those who spend five hours a week on learning exercises such as reading, taking classes and watching online courses, reported being happier, less stressed, more productive and more confident than those who didn’t do this (“light” learners were defined as those who only spend one hour or less on learning activities).
Here are the results of the survey for “heavy” learners:
- 74 per cent more likely to know where they want to go in their career.
- 48 per cent more likely to have found purpose in their work.
- 47 per cent less likely to be stressed at work.
- 39 per cent more likely to feel productive and successful.
- 21 per cent more likely to feel confident in their work.
- 21 per cent more likely to be happy at work.
“Medium” learners (those who spend between one and five hours per week) also saw some significant results.
They were:
- 14 per cent happier than light learners.
- 13 per cent less stressed than light learners.
- 16 per cent more productive than light learners.
- 32 per cent more likely to know where they want to go in their career.
Josh Bersin, a HR industry analyst who developed the survey in partnership with LinkedIn, said, “There is a clear relationship between time spent learning and a person’s career satisfaction, career prospects and general happiness.”
“People who either have the time or make the time to educate themselves are performing at higher levels.”
This is great news, right?
Yes, except not too many of us make time to do all this wonderful learning.
Just 7 per cent fell under the “heavy” learning category but at least 47 per cent made it into the “medium” group followed by 46 per cent in the “light” learners’ group.
Bersin noted that people would have time for learning if they weren’t so distracted at work by email, social media, and meetings.
Something to think about.
* Meredith Lepore is the Deputy Editor of Ladders. She tweets at @MALepore.
This article first appeared at www.theladders.com.
