How to find happiness

Have you been feeling glum recently? Miserable in management? Depressed as a director? Querulous about quantity surveying? You are not alone. Last month a study into happiness in the workplace conducted by City & Guilds named a 40-something male builder from Northern Ireland as the UK’s unhappiest worker. In terms of occupations, builders, along with bankers, were the least happy in their jobs, and the malaise is spreading throughout construction.

Many would blame doom-mongering forecasts about the economy, share price crashes, job insecurity and worries in the housing market. But why is construction in particular so down in the dumps? Jessica Pryce-Jones is chief executive of consultancy iOpener, which specialises in happiness at work, and she says we need to learn to talk to each other. “People running projects are losing sight of the need to ask people what they’re enjoying about their jobs,” she says. “It’s also crucial to show gratitude when people have done good work.”

Still feeling sad? Not to worry. In true self-help style, Building has put together the five sure-fire secrets of staying happy in construction.

Remember, money can’t buy happiness

It may come as a surprise, but a big pay packet does not guarantee feelings of joy towards your job, according to the Happiness Index. Hairdressers, for example, are right at the top of the City & Guilds survey, and Pryce-Jones says putting up buildings is more like cutting hair than you might think: “At the end of the job you can see a good result; you can take pleasure in what you’ve made. It’s not like banking where you have people asking ‘where did I add value? I can’t see anything’. People stay in jobs not because of the money, but because they like what they do.”

That’s not to say that a little more predictability would not improve some people’s jobs. Martin Burton, contract manager at HW Sladden Commercial, says: “Building would be happier work if we could just get on with a job and be treated fairly. But you’re always wondering whether you’re going to get paid, when and how much, and that has a debilitating effect. If you’re getting paid on time, you’re happier.”

Team up

Problems at work are easier to deal with when everyone is pulling together, and the Happiness Index found that 56% of employees stay with their employers because of good relationships with colleagues. Angela Walker, strategic marketing director at Morgan Ashurst, echoes this: “I really enjoy working in the industry and part of that is down to having a good team. Teams need to have conversations through the day and through the job and everyone needs to be kept up to speed with what’s happening and what’s going to happen next.”

Teamwork can be boosted with fun group activities. Jon Mayor, a QS and associate at Davis Langdon, says: “I was involved in a Cornish pasty-eating competition. There were six pasties to eat, and on a team of three I had three of them. We won in three minutes and four seconds – and they were big pasties.”

Take pride

One of the crucial areas for employee contentment identified in the survey is simply enjoying your job. Many construction professionals we spoke to admitted that they felt a surge of pride when passing a building they had help create, but some people get their kicks in more unusual ways. “I get my sense of achievement when I turn a boiler on,” says Burton. “Some people might think that’s a bit peculiar, but it’s important stuff. I’m proud when my guys have done a good job.”

Often the most daunting work can be the most rewarding, says Mayor. Remembering a change of strategy to a project after a terrorism scare, he says: “We constructed a 14-lane search security zone for outbound passengers which involved negotiation with the framework partner, and we adapted our plans, adapted the budget and engineered the solution. Those jobs where you feel like you’ve stretched yourself are always the most enjoyable.”

Love one other

Praise for good work from bosses boosts workplace happiness, according to Pryce-Jones, but like all relationships there has to be communication from both sides. “In Japanese industry there’s something like 27 suggestions per employee per year on how to improve things,” she says. “In Britain there’s an average of one. Who knows better how to fix things than the people who are doing those things?”

Stay positive

Everybody considers chucking it all in from time to time, but Pryce-Jones preaches the importance of keeping your chin up at every level within a company. “Feelings are contagious,” she says. “Bad feeling at the top of the company about things like the credit crunch will be passed on quickly, and one of the dangers is that they will then be passed on to customers. It’s vital that management remains positive.”

Pryce-Jones suggests that construction professionals focus on what they’ve got. Her advice is to forget about colleagues whom you perceive to be in a better position, after all, “what you can’t control and can’t manage”.

A final word from Mayor: “I enjoy the industry far more than I used to, and yet I support Man City, so how can I ever be truly happy?”