Attitudes toward work in the Netherlands and the relationship to happiness at work – The Dutch Benchmark

How do Dutch employees perceive their work? Do they think of it as a means to put bread on the table and to earn money for their life outside the workplace? Or are they more career-oriented and do they consider their current job as an investment and a stepping stone to the next promotion? Or is their work a calling and one of the most important things in their life?

The whitepaper (Pdf) presents the main outcomes of a national survey in the Netherlands into work orientation and happiness at work, carried out on behalf of the HappinessBureau. This study uses the classification system Job-Career-Calling by professor Amy Wrzesniewski (Yale University) and colleagues.

With this whitepaper, we provide more insight into the connection between work attitude and happiness at work, and we would like to contribute to the wider conversation about happiness at work. We hope this paper inspires you to address the wellbeing of your employees more directly, so that your organization can pursue its goals with even more fun.

Our main conclusion of the survey

The way employees perceive their work – as a Job, Career or Calling – is strongly related to their happiness at work. With few exceptions, those who primarily view their work as a Calling, are happier than those who focus on their Career. In turn, they are happier than those who think of their work as a Job.

This study shows the strength of that relationship. Also, it offers more insight on connections with other factors such as absenteeism, pride, and willingness to recommend the organization.

The combination of work orientation and happiness at work in the chart above, offers a practical framework from which to get started in your organization. On the one hand, you could create an overview of the different groups by setting up a survey. On the other hand, you could use the chart as a starting point for progress or performance conversations and ask questions like: with which group do you identify yourself? Are you satisfied with your position on the chart? What holds you back and what helps? What do you need to move from one group to another?

Download the whitepaper (Pdf).

For more information, contact the HappinessBureau: Info (@) HappinessBureau.nl