What does it mean to be happy at work? That you’re professionally challenged and fulfilled? That you make great money for doing very little? That the people around you make the day better? Is happiness just an individual thing and there’s no blanket criteria to determine the happiness of leaders or employees?

The people I work with, who come from the medical field, as a career development coach, often try to tell themselves they are content with what they are doing, but it doesn’t take much time to poke holes in that. Just because you believe you’re supposed to be happy, doesn’t mean that you are. Yes, it’s a massive deal to save lives and help heal people, but if healing people is taking a piece of your happiness with it, is it worth it?

Gandhi said: “Happiness is when you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

The Dalai Lama said: “Happiness is not ready made. It comes from your own actions.”

Charlie Brown said: “Happiness is a warm puppy.”

I first have to get my clients over the idea that they are “supposed” to be happy. Deciding they wanted to be a doctor at 15 years old and then following a script for the next half of their life to make that happen is like admitting nearly two decades of failure if it doesn’t’ work out the way they hope. Honestly, how many of our plans at 15 years old really work out the way we wanted?

At first glance, it seems like each of our definitions of happiness are as unique as snowflakes, but researchers have been making strides in measuring workplace happiness, actually coming up with certain benchmarks in the last few years.

There is still no universal standard for happiness, nor is there any infallible go-to test to determine it. We can define it in clinical terms, and there are more tests and techniques for measuring physical indicators that lead one to claim happiness than ever, but it really comes down to how the individual defines personal happiness. The reality is that we could have identical brain scans and I find myself to be the happiest person I know while you’re just barely getting through the day.

Looking at the positive data

That said, there are almost as many studies being done to find correlations between happy employees and productivity as there are new executive titles reflecting that happiness – Did you know Google has a Chief Happiness Officer?

A 2015 article in Harvard Business Review said that most of the data points to workers that self-identify as happy as being more productive than workers who gave themselves any other emotional label.

In fact, the same article said that happy employees are “less likely to leave, more likely to satisfy customers, are safer, and more likely to engage in citizenship behavior.”

 As leaders, we need to make sure the team is happy, right? Eh…maybe not.

It is important to note that “being happy at work” and “satisfied with the job” are two different things according to a 2017 study from university researchers Thomas Wright and Russell Cropanzano presented by the Academy of Management.

Their conclusion is that while the theory happy employees are more productive seems to be correct, it doesn’t necessarily mean that satisfied workers are happy or more productive.

“A person can be satisfied without necessarily experiencing high levels of positive affect. When happiness is measured as emotional well-being, as was done here, it does seem to show consistent relationships to job performance,” the conclusion of their study read.

We’re Human, Not Robots

The other day, a potential client wrote to me and said, “I’m making more money than I ever thought I would, but I will also be paying student loans until I’m 46. If you take what those loans, malpractice insurance and the other hidden costs of being a doctor are versus what I make, there are many other professions I know I would have been happier in and had just as much money left over at the end of the day. If I realized it was going to cost over $300,000 in schooling to become a doctor, I would have just joined my sister in opening her preschool.”

I simply responded: “It is really about the money?”

They wrote back: “No, I’m miserable. What do I do?”

We are scheduled to have our first official online meeting in a few days.