If there was ever a topic for hot discussion it would be about happiness and work. Are you happy at work? Should work make us happy? What’s happiness anyway? All questions guaranteed to start off great debate.

 As we spend nearly 25% of our lives at work, it would seem an awful shame if we spent this time – approximately 99,177 precious hours unhappy. But in these uncertain economic times, the recession on everybody lips, redundancies being announced daily, should we not be grateful if we have a job at all? Indeed the concept of being happy at work to those who are facing job uncertainty must seem frivolous and idealistic. When finances are tight surely we just need to “knuckle down” and get on with it?

And yet with so many of us, our jobs define us more than anything else. These days we mould our identities from our status and job title. Indeed we are often so wrapped up in our work identities, the first question we ask new acquaintances is not where they come from but what they do.

So because work is so important to us intrinsically and because of the huge time commitment we give to it, the next question is “Who’s responsibility is it to make sure we’re a happy workforce? Certainly an employer should satisfy our basic needs, by providing a safe, comfortable environment in which to work and provide us with the tools and information we need to do the job. But make us happy? However in the increasingly competitive and difficult economic climate in which businesses operate, the need for strategies to improve the health and resilience of employees has become all the more important. Indeed there is growing evidence that “a happy worker is a more productive worker” with positive employee well-being and the prevention of stress being recognised as significant factors affecting performance and success in the workplace.

Thankfully these days many employers recognise that looking after their employees is all important to their future and have developed wellbeing programmes covering initiatives such as healthy eating, exercise advice and smoking cessation. However these don’t extend to all companies and many employees are left to battle it out on their own. If you are one of these, here are some suggestions to have a Happy Week at Work.

·         Build your support network. Having supportive colleagues and a friend you can count on really helps when the going gets tough. So this week make a new friend and start a conversation with someone you’ve never spoken to before.

·         Learn something new. Find out how to do that procedure/ process/task that you’ve been putting off for ages. You know the one! Then enjoy the sense of accomplishment afterwards.

·         Take a lunch break. How many of us work through lunch at our desks? If you can leave your desk and go outside, be aware of the world around you. Sit on a bench and really notice what’s going on.