A Penn professor seems to have found the way to find work happiness. Annie McKee, a Penn professor in the Graduate School of Education, just published a book titled “How to Be Happy at Work,” reported Philly.com.
Employees in the U.S. are known to have low rates of workplace happiness — Gallup records show that only a third of workers in the nation are "engaged" in their work. After speaking to hundreds of organizations, McKee has found ways to overcome this problem and find satisfaction in the workplace, something she calls a "human right."
By McKee's research, the keys to being happy in the workplace are to have “a meaningful vision of the future,” “a sense of purpose” and “great relationships” with co-workers, bosses and employees. Tangible ways to achieve these goals include eating lunch with a colleague rather than alone, and learning skills out of desire rather than because the company necessitates them.
“I learned you need to take care of your emotional life, just as you do your physical health,” McKee said.
McKee is currently a Senior Fellow at Penn and runs an executive doctoral program for chief learning officers, but many years ago, she was a single mother on welfare with three young children. It was while she was cleaning houses to support her family that McKee began to think about job satisfaction.
“I discovered that I liked to make things better," she said.
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