Lack Of Employee Happiness At Workplaces

I spent around 20 years listening to work-life issues, looking at this very closely with several consulting firms. Everywhere I went, I found that people were very unhappy about their work, said Dr Ashish Ambasta.

The reason why most of the workers at different companies are not happy is that the employees are not taking account of their own happiness, they are giving it away to organisations, said the Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of HappyPlus, Dr Ashish Ambasta at BW Wellbeing 40 Under 40 event. 

Over half which is 54 per cent of employees surveyed from around the globe considered leaving their job, amid the uncertainty of job security, anxiety, stress and other mental health issues due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, as per the EY 2021 Work Reimagined Employee Survey.

Ambasta tried to put forth his view on why people are not happy when it comes to their work. He said that sometimes it's about your managers, sometimes it is about your compensation, you're learning and development. 

"Most of the time, you will find an excuse why you do not enjoy working. Whenever I meet somebody, I ask two questions- one is if there is an opportunity or option in your life, would you continue doing what you are doing? The second question I ask- if there is an opportunity would you continue doing what you do for free of cost? Most of the time the answer is definitely no," said Ambasta. 

However, revealing the other side of the story, Ambasta said that people who enjoy doing what they do, do not consider their work as a burden for them. It is a way of expression for them, it is a way of bringing their potential to the front for everybody to look at and they thoroughly enjoy it. 

Ambasta cited the United Nations (UN) Happiness Index and said that every year on March 20, there is a report which is published by the UN that ranks all the countries as far as their happiness scores are concerned.  After 2013, India as a nation has been coming down dramatically for the last seven to eight years. It started at the rank of 111 and now in the last ranking, India was 144 out of 156 countries. 

Apart from the issues employees or people face about their job, workplace resiliency initiatives are also missing several points to increase employee engagement.

"Now this is very challenging because on one hand you are labelled as someone who is not happy and on the other hand other reports at workplaces are also telling us that happiness and engagement are not there for the people who are going to work. Imagine spending most of your waking hours being surrounded by people whom you don't love, work which you do not enjoy and looking for Fridays so you can go and relax," said Ambasta. 

Ambasta spoke on 'Missing Link in Employee Happiness at Workplaces,' at BW Wellbeing 40 Under 40 event organised by BW Businessworld on November 26. Ambasta expressed her thoughts and perspectives about work, workplace environment and more during his address.