How happy are Aussies…and how do our workplaces contribute?

We’ve come a long way in our understanding of happiness and the far-reaching role it plays in our lives, cultures and economy. Far from being a ‘woo-woo’ concept or merely a ‘nice to have’ emotional state, happiness across a population is now recognised as the strongest indicator of a country’s social progress. Social scientists now have methods to measure happiness, which can provide vital insight for policy makers. There is ample evidence to show that happy people tend to be healthier, more productive, more connected and more generous members of society. It makes sense that we would ‘get serious’ about happiness, fine-tuning our ways to measure and encourage more happiness across the entire population, in every arena of life.

Now in its 10th year of publication, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network World Happiness Report is a landmark survey that ranks 156 countries on how happy their citizens identify themselves to be. Country scores are based on a survey in which respondents appraise the quality of their current lives on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being the worst life imaginable and 10 being the best. 

The report measures happiness in each country using six main variables: GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption. While additional indicators are factored in (such as age, gender, marital status, education, unemployment), these six variables are understood to have a major impact on one’s happiness and are regularly used to explain differences between nations.

Australia ranked near the top of the list in the 2022 World Happiness Report, with a happiness score of 7.162 (on the 0 to 10 scale), placing it as the 12th happiest country in the world out of 156 nations. Australia beat Canada (15th), the United States (17th) and the United Kingdom (19th) but lost to a host of Nordic countries, along with other contenders such as the Netherlands, Switzerland and New Zealand. Finland was ranked the happiest country in the world for the fifth year in a row with a score of 7.821 – something to aspire to! It’s worth noting that Australia’s ranking hasn’t dropped in two years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, despite border closures, extended lockdowns and various tough control measures.

The average person spends a whopping 90,000 hours at work over a lifetime. That’s roughly one third of our lives spent at work. It goes without saying that our work therefore has a massive impact on our level of happiness and how we feel about life. We can’t study happiness without looking closely at our work, our workplaces and our attitudes towards work. 

Encouragingly, a survey of 1,400 Australian workers found the majority of Australian workers (69 per cent) consider their work as meaningful to them. On the diversity and inclusion front, 72 per cent of Aussie workers agreed that their workplace accepts them for who they are as a person. On a less positive note, 50 per cent of workers reported feeling burnt out in 2021, with that number jumping slightly to 53 per cent in 2022.

Financial stress is also a serious issue for Australian workers, with 60 per cent of females and 52 per cent of males saying that they are worried about finances. When asked if they feel they are paid fairly, the majority said yes, although a gender gap still persists, with females 10 per cent more likely to disagree they were paid fairly, and 14 per cent more likely to say that their pay was below average.

Overall, we can see how these workplace stats correlate with Australia’s above average ranking on the happiness scale, but also highlight areas for improvement.