In the midst of conversations about quiet quitting, Sunday scaries and toxic workplaces, it can be tricky to associate work with happiness. But while, yes, waking up on a Monday morning is not a lot of fun, it is possible to experience genuine job joy… or, at the very least, to not be miserable at your 9 to 5. 

Being happy at work doesn’t rely on packing in your job for a shiny new one that earns you loads of money or sends you travelling around the world, either. Career contentment can be as simple as feeling a sense of purpose, liking the people you work with or having decent work/life boundaries. That means we all have the opportunity to be happy at work.

But how do we get there? We asked some of the world’s top experts for their tips. 

Matt Abrahams is a lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business and author of Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How To Speak Successfully When You’re Put On The Spot. He believes that, as trivial as it may seem, office small talk is a big way to feel happier at work.

“Unfortunately, many of us see chit-chat as stressful and difficult,” Abrahams says. “Yet research suggests that small talk helps us to forge new and deeper relationships, while also allowing us to learn and grow. At its core, chit-chat is about curiosity and connection, which are two catalysts for happiness. 

“It is easy to start small talk: ask open questions, comment on something in the environment or share a personal insight. When others respond, be interested and supportive. We all stand to be happier by leveraging big gains from small talk.”

“For me to be happy at work I need to get the right balance between things that I am really good at and things that I find challenging,” Patrice Gordon, author of Reverse Mentoring: Removing Barriers And Building Belonging In The Workplace, tells Stylist. “This also means a balance between tasks that I can get my head down and power on through, but also work with a team to feel like I’m really contributing to the needs of customers.”

“Most importantly. I need to be able to contribute to something bigger than myself. Whatever your job, if you can identify ways to be a force for good, you’ll find work much more rewarding and enjoyable.”

“Stress gets a bad rap these days,” says psychologist Thijs Launspach, author of Crazy Busy: Keeping Sane In A Stressful World. “We’re told that stress is something we should avoid at all costs, that a stress-free existence is ideal. It isn’t. In fact, we are often too afraid of stress.

“Research suggests that our ‘stress mindset’ in part determines how much of the bad stress we encounter. If you’re too afraid of stress, you’ll probably feel more stressed out. If, instead, you accept occasional stress as something that isn’t that harmful in moderate doses, and when managed well, stress will trouble you less. You shouldn’t be too afraid of stress – if you’re not, it can actually be your superpower.”

“If you only find validation and worth in ‘what you do for work’, we can be in trouble if work changes or ends for some reason” says Stacey Demarco, author of Priestess Path: 13 Powerful Lessons To Build Your Inner Strength, “so try to also find happiness in things outside your job and within you that you can take to work.”

“In the always-on working world we live in, we can often get stuck in a routine of only interacting with those we work with directly and daily,” says Mimi Nicklin, an empathy expert, host of The Mimi YouYou Show podcast and bestselling author of  Softening The Edge. “In so doing we overlook the extraordinary power of listening to those we don’t know so well.

“When we truly tune into the realities of other team members, we foster new and engaged connections and find new areas of shared passion and interest. We find ourselves engaged with more people, more ideas and more support and it allows for a conversationally brave environment where ideas are shared openly and collaborations thrive. When we are connected with those around us on a more authentic level, loneliness decreases, motivation increases and self-censorship reduces. As humans, we are meant to be connected, and the more we drive this at work, the happier we will be.”

“In over 20 years of working in organisations, I have never once heard someone say, ‘I get thanked too much here!’ More often than not, the opposite is the case: we don’t feel recognised for our contribution,” says Becky Hall, accredited life coach and author of The Art Of Enough.

“So the secret to boost happiness at work is to create a culture of appreciation. This doesn’t all come from the boss either; we can all thank and appreciate our colleagues more than we do. The brilliant thing about this is that gratitude also makes us feel better – every time we feel grateful we get a burst of serotonin, the happy hormone. So a culture of appreciation is win-win – it makes everyone feel happier.”

You know what they say: comparison is the thief of joy. That definitely applies in the world of work. 

Dr Lucy Ryan is a leadership coach, lecturer in positive psychology and author of new book Revolting Women. She argues that valuing your job in comparison to what other people are doing/earning is a path to misery.

“Compare yourself to others and feel your sense of happiness deteriorate – it’s a notorious killer of joy,” Ryan tells us. “Instead, draw three circles each labelled, ‘positive emotions’ (how happy you feel on a daily basis), ‘passion’ (how engaged you are at work) and ‘people’ (the quality of your relationships). To be happier at work, consider how you can positively increase the value of each of your circles.”

Jeremy Campbell is a behavioural science expert and CEO of performance improvement and technology business Black Isle Group. Campbell believes that, while we might focus on little worries or challenges in the short term, there are three main questions or contributing factors to happiness in the workplace for all of us.

He recommends: “Ask yourself, am I able to make the decisions I need to make at work to deliver results? Am I being developed through training, coaching or mentoring, or being stretched in the role? And, do I buy into the purpose of the business I work for, or is the vision in line with my own personal values? If the answer to any of these questions is ‘no’, that is likely to be the root of your unhappiness.”

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Image: Getty