Going to Work is an Important Source of Happiness Despite Its Bad Press with Dr. Tracy Brower

Podcast

Feb 21

Dr. Tracy Brower is a PhD sociologist and vice president of workplace insights for Steelcase. She is the author of The Secrets to Happiness at Work and Bring Work to Life, as well as a contributor to Forbes.com and Fast Company.

Traci and Tracy sort through information on workplace happiness and how the workplace meets important needs in our lives for happiness, meaning, and belonging. Not everyone wants to be friends with their co-workers but we do get an important sense of identity and belonging from our work that cannot be overlooked.

Episode Timeline

[00:09] Intro
[0:58] Meet Tracy
[4:19] Human connection and feeling of community is critical for our work.
[7:19] The workplace is an important place of stability and identity that is important to our well-being.
[14:19] Comparison goals like wealth and status don’t lead to happiness.
[17:08] List of the top 5 happiness producers in our lives.
[25:08] What leads to workplace burnout?
[34:27] Friendship, friendliness, and trust in our workplace relationships.
[43:06] Closing
[43:32] Outro

Resources Mentioned

The Secrets to Happiness At Work (Book)

Bring Work to Life (Book)

Standout Quotes

“The thing that I'm thinking about work is just how critical it is that we appreciate it as part of a full life, not the only part of our life, but part of a full life.” (Tracy)
I think we can get into this almost like a vicious cycle of I don't feel connected, I don't feel as valued, therefore, I don't connect as much, and I don't feel as valued.” (Tracy)
“Whenever we get our roots disconnected from our community, we have a psychological reaction to that from a deep attachment place, from a psychological place in us. For some of us, what happens is we do have to find a villain in that narrative.” (Traci)
“One of the things that's correlated with happiness is focusing on the community, focusing on what I'm giving. More generosity is correlated with happiness, and more self focus is negatively correlated with happiness.” (Tracy)
“Sometimes we think of purpose with a capital P, and if I'm not changing the world. But really, it's just the thing that we do well. We wake up in the morning and do well for the people that we care about and for our work community and our broader community.” (Tracy)
“Usually, the best team bonding happens through task where we're rolling up our sleeves together and working on a new initiative or solving a problem.” (Tracy)