What work does the happiest? A team of researchers carried out a study* of a wide range of data, in almost 60,000 stony participants. In addition to the classic characteristics (age, sex, profession, diploma level …), they were interrogated about their level of satisfaction at work and life. They also passed a personality test.
Among the study participants, 263 different professions were identified. An even thinner analysis grid than traditional socio -professional categories. On the other hand, all participants are stoning, the results could be influenced by cultural variables.
First surprise: the happiest are not the best paid. The researchers concluded that income played a role in satisfaction, but that their effect was “modest.” In addition, prestige is not associated with greater development.
Security agents, servers and vendors are unhappy
Among all the professions represented, the 10 where employees are the happiest in life are the following:
- The religious,
- Some health professionals (not doctors),
- Psychologists,
- specialized teachers,
- self -employed workers,
- Maritime engineers,
- The sheets (workers who work on the sheet).
On the contrary, the 10 most unhappy professions in life are mainly service and contact work, such as:
- Security agents,
- Surveyers,
- servers,
- sellers,
- The factors,
- The carpenters
- Chemical engineers …
But the authors have differentiated satisfaction in life and job satisfaction. Even if the two are partially grouped, in the second case, we also find among the happiest at work: health -related professions (such as dentists, midwives or physiotherapists), but also developers and computer authors.
In those who say the greatest suffering at work, there are more work of low -qualification workers. The least satisfied work professionally in transport, handling and manufacturing. We also find cooking employees, servers, maintenance agents and various types of vendors among the less satisfied trades of their work.
Thinking and achieving this makes it happy, manager or executing less
But then what factors explain such differences? When we cancel the effect of employee personality traits, the professions associated with greater satisfaction are those that offer “possibilities of achievement” by achieving “objectives that make sense.”
In the content of the work, employees who carry out practical and technical activities tend to be happier in life.
The very structured and strict rules are associated with the inverse with less satisfaction in life.
Managers do not seem to be the happiest: the work that involves leadership and competitiveness qualities are associated with levels of satisfaction lower than “potentially due to stress, pressure or responsibilities.” However, the cars used are particularly satisfied.
Reflection professions, which include analysis, problem solving and research tasks can also be very satisfactory. Finally, artistic professions and those that require social skills appear neutrally “probably due to quite variable working conditions within this category,” according to the authors of the study.
*Study conducted by four researchers from the Universities of Tartu (Estonia), Melbourne (Australia), Edimburg (Scotland) and McGill University (Canada): Maris Vainre, Kätlin Anni, Uku Vainik, René Mõttus. The panel was 59,000 people, having given its blood to an Estonian biobanco. The data were collected through an online survey between November 2021 and April 2022. They were questioned about their profession, their satisfaction at work and life, but also about their personality features.
Source: BFM TV
