Work From Hell: Which type of job makes people the unhappiest?

It’s a question that is often posed: Does your job make you happy? After all, job satisfaction and happiness derived from the workplace is an important aspect to a person’s mental health and overall well-being.

And now after years of research and surveys, researchers at Harvard finally have the answer to which jobs are the unhappiest. And if you thought entry-level positions or low-paying jobs was the answer — think again.

So, want to know which are the unhappiest jobs in the world? Read on to find out.

And the unhappiest job in the world is…

A Harvard University research has revealed that the type of jobs which tend to be the unhappiest are most often the loneliest ones, where employees are bereft of working with a team. This conclusion was drawn after the team collected data from more than 700 participants from across the world after quizzing them about their work lives. The research has been ongoing since 1938 and the scientists have been reaching out to the participants every two years about their jobs.

Robert Waldinger, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the director of the Harvard Study Of Adult Development, told CNBC that the study confirms something we have known all along — teamwork is not just necessary for productivity but also for employee morale.

He added, “It’s a crucial social need that should be met in all aspects of our lives. Plus, if you are more connected to people, you feel more satisfied with your job, and do better work.”

So if you sit away in your house, away from your team, chances are you are unhappy at work. The study, however, also pointed out that loneliness doesn’t just afflict those in solitary jobs — even people with busy, social jobs can feel isolated if they don’t have positive, meaningful interactions with others.

The study went on to list some of the loneliest jobs in the world, which included night-shift jobs. It said that tech-driven industries, including package and food delivery services or even online retail, are some of the loneliest jobs and hence, the unhappiest in the world.

“Jobs that involve more independent work than interpersonal relationships or require overnight shifts, such as truck driving and night security, also are some of the most isolated ones,” Robert Waldinger added.

The research added that creating small opportunities for social connection at work can be restorative and help alleviate feelings of loneliness and dissatisfaction.

Also read: Will recession put an end to work from home in 2023?

Loneliness at the workplace

Since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, remote working has become more prevalent with an increasing number of people choosing to work away from the office. In fact, many firms are struggling to get employees back at the workplace. Remember, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg giving a thumbs down to remote working, saying that engineers with some in-person working time (even if they later transitioned to remote work) “performed better on average than people who joined remotely.”

Other companies like Apple and Disney also are struggling to get their employees back at the workplace.

While employees do cite several benefits from remote working, most tend to ignore the loneliness factor that is involved in remote working. A 2019 study — No Employee an Island: Workplace Loneliness and Job Performance — found that loneliness hurt workplace performance in two ways.

Firstly, people who were lonelier were effectively less committed to the organisation, the survey found. This means that they cared less and were not motivated to work as hard, which lowered performance. The other reason was that co-workers found those colleagues suffering from loneliness “less approachable.” This had a negative effect on work performance as a lack of interaction meant less information was shared with co-workers, meaning those suffering from loneliness were less likely to get the resources they needed.

Dr Sébastien Fernandez, an organisational behaviour professor at EHL Hospitality Business School told Fortune that employees who report a higher amount of loneliness are more likely to suffer from depression, burnout, sleep problems, and substance abuse.

A study by the University of Exeter in England also found that loneliness at the workplace could also make it much harder to find work in the future, due to the impact it can have on your mental health. The team found those reporting that they feel lonely often were “significantly more likely to encounter unemployment later”, even if they are not lonely when applying for the job. While they didn’t explore why this was the case, they speculated it could be due to the impact loneliness has on mental health over time.

Solution to workplace loneliness

To eradicate this contagion, the first thing that firms and managers should do is to change and be more compassionate and inculcate a more emotional culture at work.

Wharton Professor Sigal Barsade, who has studied the effects of loneliness at the workplace, told CNBC in a report that employers often assume loneliness is the fault of the individual, when they should be considering if it is a reflection of an organisational issue.

Promoting and participating in social activities, even online, can help strengthen connections among co-workers. Setting aside dedicated times to connect can give employees the chance to improve information-sharing and teamwork. In addition to scheduling team events, try kicking off internal meetings with check-ins or casual updates on people’s days.

Work experts have said that if such measures are taken employees may be a happier bunch and you know what they say about happy employees — happy workers make the hardest workers!

With inputs from agencies

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