… and the Pursuit of Happiness - Institute of Economic Affairs

5 WELLBEING AT WORK: ANY LESSONS?
J. R. Shackleton
Paid work is a very important aspect of the lives of most
adults. It provides income on which they depend for a decent
living standard in a monetised economy. But it also offers a
structure to their daily lives, provides social contact and builds
personal identities and self-esteem (OECD, 2008). It is unlikely to
diminish in importance any time soon, as more of us now expect
to extend employment well beyond the early to mid-sixties which
came to mark ‘normal’ retirement age over the last 30 years. So
it is not surprising that the current upsurge of interest in the
economics and psychology of happiness and wellbeing attaches a
great deal of significance to the world of work.
Over the last fifteen years, advances in statistical and econometric
techniques, exponential increases in cheap computing
power, and the wide availability of large-scale surveys using indicators
of wellbeing have led to a burgeoning academic literature.
In addition to the intrinsic interest of the subject, there is also
the intriguing argument that improvements in wellbeing may be
translated into higher commitment to the job, higher productivity
and improved economic performance.
This has fuelled a lively policy debate in which the evergrowing
‘human resources’ (HR) profession has been prominent.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development notes the
relevance of findings about wellbeing at work to issues such as
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