Why Work & Wellbeing are Related

Most of us equate wellbeing with wealth and health, but that's not the whole story, according to Gallup's comprehensive study of people in more than 150 countries which revealed five universal, interconnected elements that shape our lives .

Extract taken from interview with Rath and Harter, Gallup Management Journal http://gmj.gallup.com/content/127643/Wellbeing-Need-Thrive.aspx

For more than 50 years, Gallup scientists have been exploring the demands of a life well-lived. More recently, in partnership with leading economists, psychologists, and other acclaimed scientists, Gallup has uncovered the common elements of wellbeing that transcend countries and cultures. This research revealed the universal elements of wellbeing that differentiate a thriving life from one spent suffering. They represent five broad categories that are essential to most people:

Career Wellbeing
How you occupy your time or simply liking what you do every day
Social Wellbeing
Having strong relationships and love in your life
Financial Wellbeing
Effectively managing your economic life
Physical Wellbeing
Having good health and enough energy to get things done on a daily basis
Community Wellbeing
The sense of engagement you have with the area where you live
 
Career Wellbeing is probably the most underestimated of the elements. When you ask people what affects their wellbeing most, they think of health and wealth. Even though people spend more of their waking hours at work than anywhere else, people underestimate how work influences their overall wellbeing and daily experience.

All the aspects overlap. But when we were studying Career Wellbeing around the world, we quickly found that this element is much broader than the traditional workplace. It's more about interest and purpose and whether people have a chance to use their strengths regularly. Along with studying people with traditional careers, we studied students, stay-at-home parents, retirees, volunteers, and people without a regular nine-to-five job. In any of these life situations, there are many people with thriving Career Wellbeing, and there are also many who are struggling.

When people think about work in general, they often think of it as a burden or something they have to do for money. Regardless of how much we've studied and talked about engagement and its importance - and quality of the workplace and its importance - most people think of work as a chore, not something that benefits their wellbeing.

Work is crucial to how we relate to people and evaluate our lives at a very basic level, so ensure you are happy at work and if not make changes to improve your Career Wellbeing. Our wellbeing is related to each of the five elements and underlying these there is often a deep spiritual connection or intuition which drives all these elements to fuse together.