Happiness and Work Andrew Oswald Professor of Economics and Behavioural Science

1. Happiness and Work Andrew Oswald Professor of Economics and Behavioural Science University of Warwick, UK

2. Tonight

3. Tonight • How happy are Europe’s workers? • What are the determinants of job satisfaction? • How important are bosses? • Does happiness make people more productive?

4. E.g. is all this just hype?

5. E.g. is all this just hype? • At Google, we know that health, family and wellbeing are.. important.

6. E.g. is all this just hype? • At Google, we know that health, family and wellbeing are.. important. We have also noticed that employees who are happy ... demonstrate increased motivation ... [We] ... work to ensure that Google is... an emotionally healthy place to work. Lara Harding, People Programs Manager, Google.

7. Job satisfaction and mental well-being at work are of interest in themselves.

8. But, more broadly, there seem to be deep links between mind and body.

9. Job satisfaction and work happiness have been studied in two ways.

10. Method 1

11. Method 1 By asking people what they want in a job.

12. Method 1 By asking people what they want in a job.

13. Method 2

14. Method 2 By studying the statistical determinants of job satisfaction.

15. Let’s start with basics:

16. What do employees say they want in a job? ISSP data, 35 countries

17. People’s top two priorities:

18. People’s top two priorities: • “Job security”

19. People’s top two priorities: • “Job security” • “Work that is interesting”

20. The next four priorities:

21. The next four priorities: • “A job that allows me to work independently”

22. The next four priorities: • “A job that allows me to work independently” • “Opportunities for advancement”

23. The next four priorities: • “A job that allows me to work independently” • “Opportunities for advancement” • “A job useful for society”

24. The next four priorities: • “A job that allows me to work independently” • “Opportunities for advancement” • “A job useful for society” • “High income”

25. Now to the literature on the determinants of job satisfaction.

26. Regression equations Job satisfaction = f(Age, gender, pay, education level, workplace characteristics, job security, region, year…)

27. A typical survey question • “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your job?” Answers from 1, 2, ... 7 7 = “Completely satisfied” 1 = “Completely dissatisfied”

28. Some cheery news:

29. European levels of job satisfaction are high. ~ 5.4 out of seven

30. Any guesses on the most satisfied and least satisfied countries?

31. Any guesses on the most satisfied and least satisfied countries?

32. In our work, we have new data on random samples from 35 countries.

33. Findings on job satisfaction

34. Findings on job satisfaction Pay Large workplace Female Job security Education Autonomy

35. Findings on job satisfaction Pay positive Large workplace Female Job security Education Autonomy

36. Findings on job satisfaction Pay positive Large workplace negative Female Job security Education Autonomy

37. Findings on job satisfaction Pay positive Large workplace negative Female positive Job security Education Autonomy

38. Findings on job satisfaction Pay positive Large workplace negative Female positive Job security positive Education Autonomy

39. Findings on job satisfaction Pay positive Large workplace negative Female positive Job security positive Education zero Autonomy

40. Findings on job satisfaction Pay positive Large workplace negative Female positive Job security positive Education zero Autonomy positive

41. But what is the strongest predictor of job satisfaction among workers?

43. Answer:

44. Answer: The boss …and in particular ‘boss competence’

45. “The Value of Bosses” By: Lazear, Edward P.; Shaw, Kathryn L.; Stanton, Christopher T. JOURNAL OF LABOR ECONOMICS Volume: 33 Issue: 4 Pages: 823-861 Published: OCT 2015 “Boss Competence and Worker Well-Being” By: Artz, Benjamin M.; Goodall, Amanda H.; Oswald, Andrew J. INDUSTRIAL & LABOR RELATIONS REVIEW Volume: 70 Issue: 2 Pages: 419-450 Published: MAR 2017

46. ‘Expert’ leaders Work by Amanda H Goodall at Cass Business School in London on the idea of expert leaders.

47. Boss competence matters more than anything

48. What else is known about the influences on job satisfaction?

49. On pay

50. On pay • There is a lot of research that shows it is relative pay (particularly the ordinal rank of pay) that matters.