Is The Office Making Us Sad?

Have you ever had a really bad day at work? A day where you feel that everything is just going wrong and that you just want to go home? While we all have those days, for a few workers their working lives are something that they often end up dreading.

It is perhaps understandable as to why we often end up unhappy in the workplace as there are many negatives in the modern workplace. Open-plan offices make it harder for us to find peace and quiet to work while employees bringing in food can cause us to eat far unhealthier than we would at home.

A study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that American workers were eating almost 1,300 calories of food a week at work. Of this, 70% came from the free food that employees bring in!

Inactivity Impacts The Workplace

On top of consuming far too many calories, which can in turn lead to an unhealthy lifestyle that can in turn increase unhappiness, the fact that most of office workers are sedentary can lead to health problems that can exacerbate feelings.

Spending too many hours sitting down over long periods of time can in turn result in health risks such as higher body mass index, higher blood pressure and more. The rising prominence of encouraging sit-stand desks informs us that workplaces are becoming more aware of these issues and are trying to combat it. After all, the better an employee’s health is then the better they are likely to work.

Of course, sit-stand desks need to be used carefully. An employee should not be made to stand for long periods of time, but should instead be encouraged to alternate between standing and sitting to try and reduce any issues.

How Can Offices Improve Happiness?

With all these issues affecting workers, it’s easy to see why many employees find themselves unhappy going to work. The challenge for employers is how they can improve their employee’s happiness, as it could result in increased productivity in turn.

Perhaps the easiest thing to do might be to simply listen to their workers by employing a survey to assess the happiness of their workforce. This could also offer a space for employees to suggest things that can be done to help improve the mood of an office, allowing workers to feel like they have a direct hand in their day-to-day work life.