
Do happier people work harder? - tylerneylon
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/opinion/sunday/do-happier-people-work-harder.html
======
potatolicious
Maybe they do, maybe they don't.

But I'll tell you one thing unhappy people do: they leave, taking all your
institutional knowledge with them. And now you're on the hook for some serious
employee acquisition costs, not to mention the downed productivity and
training.

I recently left my job for another one, and it looks like my former colleagues
are leaving one by one also. This is one of the major household-name software
companies, one with a particularly infamous attrition rate. Every single
person who's leaving started down that path because they were unhappy, not
because someone made them an offer they couldn't refuse.

In this market, if your employees are not happy they _will_ get poached.

~~~
rubinelli
If employees are leaving, at least it becomes obvious there is a problem. It
is when people don't leave that the company is in serious danger. When unhappy
employees do just enough not to get fired, they end up impeding their co-
workers, who burn out and also become unhappy. I've seen departments where
people spent more time explaining why they couldn't work than working.

~~~
anthonyb
The attrition rate isn't the worst part. The worst part is what's known as the
"Dead Sea effect" - all of the people who _can_ leave, _do_. They're usually
the better ones, at which point you're left with all the clueless or unskilled
people who couldn't find better jobs.

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chalst
Another report on the same study, from Jan. 2001 in the _Harvard Business
Review_ : [http://hbr.org/2010/01/the-hbr-list-breakthrough-ideas-
for-2...](http://hbr.org/2010/01/the-hbr-list-breakthrough-ideas-
for-2010/ar/1)

Here, the authors identify "making progress" as the single best predictor (of
a number that they looked for) for job satisfaction, beginning a circle that
is closed with the NYT article.

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ch0wn
My job requires solving problems. The happier I am, the easier it is, because
being worried about anything is quite a distraction. I'm not sure if I work
harder when I'm happy, but it's certainly easier to get things done.

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lwhi
In my experience, there are some personality traits that cause some to people
to strive far harder than others.

I think a strong desire to rectify deep rooted feelings of discontent and
dissatisfaction can lead some people to work far harder than others - but in
these cases actually achieving, eventually leads to a feeling of happiness.

EDIT: Down-voted for this? Seriously?

~~~
bartonfink
Most people describe call what you're describing 'ambition.' Some people want
to do more than other people and set loftier goals for themselves. However, I
think it's a huge mistake to say that "in these cases actually achieving,
eventually leads to a feeling of happiness." You're implying that ambition is
the only road to happiness, when there is a preponderance of evidence to the
contrary.

I think it's far more likely that highly ambitious people have a far more
difficult time being as happy as other, "normal" people. If you spend a lot of
mental energy focusing on the points where the world rubs you the wrong way
you're not going to feel happy regardless of whether you try to fix those
points.

~~~
lwhi
I'm not saying that ambition is the only road to happiness.

I think you're correct - more highly ambitious people probably do have a far
more difficult time being 'happy'.

I am trying to imply that the pursuit of happiness can make people work
harder. For the ambitious - it's often used as a metaphorical carrot on a
stick.

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boredguy8
Is this a new realization? Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory explains that
'hygiene' factors keep a person from being unhappy, but aren't themselves
motivators. So having a good salary keeps someone from becoming unhappy, but
isn't itself a motivator (except possibly a very short time).

And as Gladwell writes in Outliers: "Those three things—autonomy, complexity,
and a connection between effort and reward—are, most people agree, the three
qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying."

~~~
huherto
Very similar to Autonomy, mastery, and purpose.. from a TED talk.
<http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html>

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osivertsson
Interesting stuff, thanks for posting. Ordered the book and looking forward to
reading it.

As a software developer this talk about the importance of making small steps
of _progress_ , makes me associate this with Test-Driven Development, where I,
or even better me and my pair-programming partner, continually get a sense of
progress.

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kahawe
> _Fully 95 percent of these managers failed to recognize that progress in
> meaningful work is the primary motivator, well ahead of traditional
> incentives like raises and bonuses._

I find this especially striking, considering how taking part in producing
excellent products employees can be proud of and take ownership in is one of
the key aspects in the quality management philosophy coming from Japan / W.E.
Deming - and these philosophies should be sufficiently popular and known in
the western world by now since they are very typical management training
material.

~~~
hessenwolf
Let me try and think back to the last manager I had that actually had more
than a 2-day leadership course in management training... (and the last guy was
confident enough to say that it was a waste of his time going to the
leadership course, 1.5 months before his best employee moved to a different
job working for his rival).

I, also, if I'm really honest with myself, just want to build cool shit with
my time.

~~~
kahawe
> _I, also, if I'm really honest with myself, just want to build cool shit
> with my time._

And that is _EXACTLY_ what your manager should actually enable and encourage
and support you to do and that's pretty much what good management training
should come down to IMHO.

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craigmc
yes.

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yaix
Are all generalizations always wrong?

------
mobileman
No.

Work that fulfills people is done hard until finish and gets the love of
polish

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joeyj01
Happier people don't bother to work. Because they are happy where they are.
They don't need more. Greedy people work harder.

~~~
JoeP
I think you're mistaken in the assumption that greed and happiness are
mutually exclusive.

~~~
corin_
More importantly (in my opinion), the bigger mistake is the idea that people
only work hard for greed. I know plenty of people who work hard in a job they
enjoy, chosing to do so rather than move somewhere else that would pay them
far higher wages but that they think they would enjoy less.

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schiptsov
No. Happier people work smarter. ^_^

Already down voted by cool hackers, so perhaps I need to put some first-
grader-level explanations. ^_^

The classical saying declares that 'the only hell on Earth is ignorance'. The
description of stupidity is, in general, 'restricted, repetitive behavior'.
Several studies says that what we call a luck is a matter of attention and
awareness (Catch the moment! - you know). Stress reduces awareness, make
people too narrow, too repetitive (defense mechanism). Now, try to recall an
illustration from famous (among hackers) Alan Kay's lectures, where people
digging for a treasure and they're doubling the effort instead of shifting to
other place. And at last, but not least, especially related to silent down-
voting - one can't see what one don't know - recognizing has this 're' in
front of it. ^_^

So, happier people, which means less restricted, less repetitive, less self-
limited, more open, more aware, more awake, with broader vision and greater
attention, calmer and balanced yes, in consequence, work smarter rather than
harder.

~~~
lawnchair_larry
I think this ^_^ thing is likely to attract downvoters, if nothing else.

~~~
schiptsov
yeah, they are so serious and proud, these hackers. =)

