Willem Kuyken comments on happiness at work in the Guardian

Willem Kuyken comments on happiness at work in the Guardian

A recent Guardian article asked experts, What makes for a happy career? Is it being busy, having a sense of purpose, working towards goals or just doing something that makes a tangible difference?

OMC Director Willem Kuyken contributed to the piece, saying that being consumed by your work isn’t necessarily a pre-requisite for happiness – in fact, the opposite may be true:

Often people are busy rushing from task to task, conversation to conversation, without being fully present or aware. This rarely supports creativity or thoughtful problem-solving”.

He adds, “Mindfulness is about going about our work with awareness, choice and a sense of presence and intentionality. We can still work hard and get a lot done – arguably more, because we’re choosing what we do with care, rather than continually reacting“.

The article, published as part of the Guardian’s ‘Get Into Teaching’ content, looks at how different experts define happiness at work, and the factors which contribute to it.

Professor Kuyken defined happiness at work as, “a match between the person’s values, goals and style of working, and the organisation’s values, goals and culture”.

The OMC, along with Bangor Mindfulness Centre, is currently focusing on supporting and enhancing wellbeing in the workplace with a series of Workplace Masterclasses specifically designed for practitioners delivering mindfulness based training in the workplace.

The landmark 2015 All Party Parliamentary Group Mindful Nation UK report suggested that mindfulness in workplaces can improve staff wellbeing, but that there was a need for high quality training to prepare and support those teaching mindfulness in such settings.

The masterclasses cover subjects including work culture, teaching methods, optimising change and embedding mindfulness in the workplace. Professor Kuyken will be leading on of the masterclasses himself on 24 November, examining the role of theory, science and research in mindfulness-based interventions in the workplace.