More Men Are Happy At The Workplace As Compared To Women: Survey

The blurring of boundaries between the personal and the professional life during the pandemic has made it more important than ever to emphasize workplace happiness and employee wellbeing.

The need to reassess organizational well-being is glaringly evident owing to high turnover rates, increased burnout, and decreased job satisfaction. To tackle existing concerns and proactively prevent new ones, it is essential to build support structures that bolster the employee experience and promote workplace happiness, which comprises a fair and harmonious work environment, with reduced stress and an inclusive culture.

In an effort to comprehensively understand the predictors of workplace happiness, Happyness.me surveyed 1360 Indian employees. They analyzed representative data from a relatively large sample and investigated the intricacies of the drivers of workplace happiness.

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Data were collected through online and telephonic means, with the assistance of a data collection agency from December 2021 to January 2022. Interested participants were invited to fill in a questionnaire which consisted of scales to assess and  correlate workplace happiness with autonomy, turnover intention, belongingness, and so on.

These are the 10 Key findings of the survey:

1. 59% of the Indian workforce is not happy at work.
2. Workplace happiness is a combination of both psychological factors and workplace specific factors.
3. Greater autonomy and belongingness at work contribute to higher workplace happiness.
4. High stress and low work-life balance contribute to lower workplace happiness.
5. More men are happy at the workplace as compared to women.
6. Majority of employees are seeking flexibility to maximize their workplace happiness.
7. Full-time employees are happier than part-time employees.
8. Employees who intend to leave their jobs are not unhappy people, but they are particularly unhappy at work.
9. Intent to leave jobs does not vary strikingly across generations.
10. Both workplace happiness & general wellbeing are important for sustained happiness.

About more men being happy at the workplace as compared to women the survey says, "While men are happier at work than women, the majority of the reasons for their happiness are the same and are related to better general well-being, work-life balance, innovation, autonomy, belongingness, and lower interference between work and personal lives. An interesting finding that corroborates the already existing data behind is that stress and mental health significantly impact workplace happiness for women."

Adding "While there isn’t a huge gap between the general well-being of men and women, it indicates a need to also pay attention to external factors such as pay and job positions that might be impacting the workplace happiness levels for women. In our sample, of all the people in the senior management and of all the people earning over 5 lacs, only 37% were women in both cases. Besides this, the gender roles in society that sometimes tend to put extra pressure on women to multitask and cater to the needs of both their home and work lives explain this well. An imbalance is likely to take a toll on their perceived stress and mental health, which also explains why several women are forced to leave their jobs, in turn. This finding can also guide future work in targeting ‘no-one-sizefits-all’ initiatives to promote well-being at work."

Further it suggests a guide to creating a happier work culture. As the threat of new variants of COVID-19 recedes with increased access to vaccines, organizations are assessing inevitable changes in work culture and contemplating future work environment options. Following are some ways suggested by the survey report how organizations can build a happier workforce:

• Introduce more flexible work models
• Encourage autonomy
• Establish strong boundaries between the personal & the professional
• Decrease turnover through instituting people-centric practices
• Pay attention to the individual needs of employees