How to boost your happiness at work

Your happiness at work is important to your wellbeing and ignoring negative feelings can lead to stress, so don’t just hope they’ll go away. While our advice will not solve every problem, we hope we can shed some light on why you’re feeling down at work and offer some tips on getting yourself into a better frame of mind.

Career development

Are you receiving training and do you feel like you’re constantly developing? Or, have you reached a point where only additional learning can take your career forward? Determine what it is exactly that’s making you feel down at work. Common issues include a too heavy or a too light workload, conflict with a colleague or a missed promotion/pay rise. It’s important to pinpoint what your frustrations are and where they are coming from.

If you’re working hard and producing great work but it’s not being acknowledged or you’re working towards a promotion that is always deferred, you might start to notice a dip in your productivity levels. Likewise, if you’re working to unreachable targets or no goals at all, motivation can just slip away from you. Bouncing back from this can be difficult; rethinking your approach is tough, but don’t underestimate the effects of stress.

Think positive

You’re not helping yourself, your team or your employer by focusing on the negatives and it’s important you stay professional. If you start to feel angry or upset at work, remove yourself from the situation for five minutes by taking a walk outside for some fresh air or making a drink in the kitchen. It can be really difficult, but try not to let everyone in your workplace see that you’re struggling. Focus on the positives – even if this is that you will start to look for a new, better job.

Talk your feelings through with friends or family too; sometimes you just need to vent, but don’t lay it on a colleague. People that know you well will restore your confidence in yourself and help you focus on the next steps, which should really provide you with the boost you need.

Talk to your manager

It may be the case that your pride has been hurt or your self-esteem has been lowered and many people don’t feel comfortable bringing this up with their line manager. Part of a manager’s role is dealing with situations like this, so we recommend you talk to them. If they haven’t noticed you’re not happy about something, you need to bring it to their attention; you might find the situation gets resolved immediately.

Try making a list of the issues that you want to discuss before approaching your manager, that way you won’t get flustered and upset but be able to express your problems coherently.

Time for a new job?

Perhaps it’s time to move on. If you’ve raised concerns several times before and nothing has been satisfactorily settled, chances are that bringing it up again will produce the same result. It may be that your department simply doesn’t have the capacity to promote you, give you a pay rise, change your responsibilities or hire an extra pair of hands; if you’re not going to be happy remaining in your current situation, change it. At Michael Page we speak to candidates every day who are dissatisfied with their current role, and we assess all possibilities to match them with their perfect job.