Working Women and the Search for Joy

Blog #10

Working Women and the Search for Joy

Now, I fully appreciate that this is a challenge. Demanding that a management team provide joy to a staff team is unrealistic and unfair. As discussed, happiness is not a tangible object. Every individual has their own personal definition of happiness. What can be done, however, is focussing on the removal of unhappiness from the working day.

HBR provides an interesting insight into the idea of joy in the workplace. Millennials, for example, seek an overarching purpose in their work to find happiness and motivation – something that has often been repeated. I would like to assess this from a gender perspective.

Happiness in the Workplace
If you are a regular reader of these articles, you will know that I do not shy away from the differences between the sexes. In fact, I firmly consider them something to be celebrated. Men and women do not always think the same, and that is OK. Disparity in opinion, attitude and priority is critical to create a diverse, functional workplace that appeals to all parties.

What I find interesting is that some research suggests that women are happier than men in the workplace. It could reasonably be assumed that the gender pay gap would render this impossible. However, it appears that 45% of female employees declare themselves happy at work most of the time. This drops to 38% of men.

Now, on paper, this is heartening news. At the risk of pouring cold water on this bonfire of positivity, though, I would like to address the remaining 55% of female employees. A quarter of 30-49-year-old women rarely, if ever, feel happy at work. We have to ask ourselves – why is that? Are one in four women of this age group just miserable by nature? I find that hard to believe. Instead, perhaps we should look at what we can do to enhance happiness and joy at work for these employees.

Take another look at the statistic above. It could just be coincidence that the unhappiest age group of working women are those likeliest to be balancing career with raising younger children. It could be … but I’m not convinced that it is. As shown in my home country of Australia, flexibility around childcare responsibility makes working women happier.

This demonstrates an understanding of the challenges of ‘invisible work’, and the additional responsibilities that so many women of this generation take on. And, ultimately, that is what brings joy to many women in the workplace, whether they are mothers or not. A sense of understanding, and of being heard and respected.

The Joy of Being Heard
Employees of any gender that feel their voices are being heard in the workplace are almost five times likelier to be motivated and content in their career. Sadly, an eye-watering 92% of women still feel less able to speak up and making their voices heard. I’m no mathematician, but that does not make pretty reading to me. If we are to aid women in finding joy in the workplace, this needs to be addressed.

I am confident that plans are afoot to achieve this aim. I am a volunteer at the LEAD Network, and we work tirelessly to empower working women. There is still so much to be done though, and we all need to play our part.

By ensuring that women feel comfortable speaking up, we will make the working environment a happy and joyful place for women. This, in turn, will empower the next generation of female employees who will continue to shatter pre-existing glass ceilings and rewrite the unofficial rulebook as to what is possible. That’s certainly an idea that fills me with joy. I sincerely hope that that same applies to anybody reading this – especially those in positions of authority who are capable of making this happen.