麻豆社

“Of course, we work for money. Most of us wouldn't work if our employers decided to stop paying us but good work is about much more than money," says Professor Patricia Findlay, Director of the Scottish Centre for Employment Research explains in Radio 4's Analysis: Does work have to be miserable? "Good work can be a really positive force in our lives. It gives us a structure to our day, enables us to support our families and do all of those things with material prosperity.

"But it also lets us do really interesting things that lets us access resources, use our skills to do things that we find rewarding and often meaningful, engages with other people in problem solving. It gives us an arena and resources in which to achieve things."

So, what is the secret to "good work"? Here are five things that make us happy at work.

1. Meaningful work

Clearly some jobs sound more fun than others: professional footballer or luxury chocolate taster for example but no matter what the role is or the industry it’s in, "good jobs" should all have intrinsic value.

Kate Bennett is a midwife at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital. She runs the delivery unit, so she meets women at their most vulnerable and supports them through one of the biggest events of their lives. “I love it. It gets my brain working. Every day is a challenge.” Everyone needs aspects of their work that are interesting, where they get to solve problems, help people or make a difference.

2. Autonomy

“Too many jobs, whether it's a carer job, a cleaner job, or an IT software are designed as if, the person who's doing it may as well almost be a robot.” says Professor Damian Grimshaw of Kings College London. “Good quality of work has a lot to do with good quality job design, which allows for autonomy and sovereignty over your time.”

So, jobs where you have a say in when, where and for how long you work, how you order your tasks and how you tackle your work rate higher in terms of job quality than those where every aspect of your work is dictated to you.

Jenna Brimble also works as a midwife at Liverpool Women’s Hospital. She gets to schedule her own day so she can work longer or shorter days, work from home on admin days and pick her kids up from school if she needs to. “It gives me a much happier way of working,” she insists. It’s also great for her patients too. Many working mums-to-be find it difficult to make normal clinical hours so Jenna can offer them evening visits.

“When we asked people, do you have the skills to do work of a more responsible and qualified nature, about a third of them say, Yes, I have skills, but nobody's asking me to use them,” says Damian Grimshaw.

We are all more than our job description at work. We will have skills and interests and knowledge and connections that could be of value at work. Harnessing this "tacit knowledge" is a key to unlocking workers’ potential.

Stacey Bridge started at Howorth Air Tech as a cleaner, but her boss found out she started a finance course before becoming a stay-at-home mum. She was offered paid time off to complete her studies, opportunities to gain experience, develop her skills and eventually a job in the finance department.

5. Dignity of workers

Of course, there are basic needs that all workers have: a living wage, a safe workplace. It’s also important people feel treated fairly at work regardless of their characteristics or circumstances. Jim Liptrot is managing director of Howorth Air Tech. They have a guidebook on how staff and managers treat each other that they call "The Howorth Way". As Jim puts it: “If one person gets kicked, we all limp.”

Professor Findlay says this "partnership" model, combined with better job quality, means staff are more likely to do discretionary work, and go above and beyond for their organisation. Happy workers are more productive workers.

Listen to "Analysis: Does work have to be miserable?" presented by Pauline Mason.