Holland beats Germany in workplace happiness and productivity

Holland may have been knocked out of the World Cup but they do have something to be cheerful about. New research has found the Dutch are the happiest employees in Europe, spending 57.2 per cent of their time at work happy. The Danish and Norwegians rank just behind the Dutch at 48.5 per cent and 43.9 per cent, respectively. The Swiss (36.8%), Italians (37.2%) and Germans (37.4%) are some way off. The British fall somewhere in the middle at 42.4 per cent. Happiness at Work was measured by breaking the concept into key identifiable components: positive factors such as recognition, respect, and time on task; and negative indicators such as likelihood of leaving or sick days. The study from the iOpener Institute of People and Performance, also shows a clear relationship between happiness at work and personal productivity with the Dutch beating the Germans in achieving their tasks.

As well as topping the list for happiest employees, Dutch workers are also the most productive in Europe. They spend 65.6 per cent of their time on task. This is in comparison to the Germans, for example, who record a level of 46.8 per cent.

Jessica Pryce-Jones, Joint CEO of the iOpener Institute and author of “Happiness at Work – Maximizing Your Psychological Capital for Success”, notes: “Taking a closer look at the research helps explain why Dutch employees top the list for happiness and productivity.

“For example, compared to workers in many other countries the Dutch report feeling high levels of control over their daily activities; and out of the 48 countries surveyed, the Netherlands is in the top five for feelings of doing something worthwhile and achieving potential.”

The report analysed responses from over 42,000 professionals, with disparities ranging across European countries. For more information visit www.iopenerinstitute.com/