Working with people who make you feel appreciated and acknowledged is another reason why people enjoy going to work. Bosses have an especially important role to play – a frequently quoted research indicates that people leave bad managers and not companies.
A workplace that values and actively seeks your inputs and suggestions, makes you feel respected as an employee and recognizes employees’ achievements creates a sense of belonging and fosters employee participation.
This ties in with the previous point about working with people you like – it forms an intangible part of the company’s culture and can be hard to change.
Personal development and growth
For some, work may be a necessary evil to help them achieve their personal goals (e.g. pay the bills, finance the kids’ education, gain experience to move on to a better job, buy a house). Those who actually feel a sense of personal development in their jobs are much more likely to be loyal to the company and enjoy their work.
There is a fine line between being adequately challenged versus being pushed to past your limits. Either extreme (not being challenged vs. being overly stressed out) is not good for the long term health and well being for employees, and may result in various issues such as absenteeism and various chronic ailments that sap employee productivity.
Being in a job that doesn’t bore you to death and allows some room for professional growth increases the chances of you wanting to stay on in the company over the longer term.
As individuals, we all have unique talents and things that we are good at. If we feel that our work is meaningful and what we do makes a difference for others, this gives motivation for us to keep doing it even though there may be times when the going gets tough.
Having a good boss
Having a boss that constantly checks on you, tries to second-guess your judgment and generally interfering with how you do your work can be a real pain. As such, it may not be surprising to know that 75% of employees say the worst part of their job is their boss.
Conversely, having a boss who trusts you to get the job done and allows individual initiative at work, yet provides necessary support and instructions when needed is a huge contributing factor to job satisfaction.
Being well paid
This is an obvious factor for being happy at work, and for some people it’s the most important factor in choosing a job. After all, one of the main reasons why you are working is to make a living. It certainly doesn’t hurt to be paid well for the work you do.
Makes good use of your skills and talents
Nurturing the areas that you are good at and allowing you to express your best talents is a surefire way to ensure that you love your job. After all, who wants to keep doing something that’s a drag?
Being part of a winning team/ company
Everyone wants to feel like a winner. If your team or company is doing well, it rubs off on you and makes you look good to be part of the team.
