Happy employees need not be the pampered and coddled college style employees Google made famous. They just need to be appreciated. And managers need to create environments that are not safe spaces where no strife happens but that can be a place where people feel appreciated and capable of making changes.
I feel none of this at my current role just golden handcuffs that keep me here.
My experience comes from working for highly structured corporations. The pay wasn't abysmal, but wasn't that great, either. The pressure could be pretty intense; especially at the last corporation (a famous Japanese optical company). I stayed there, for almost 27 years. The reasons I stayed, are many, but money sure wasn't one.
I saved enough to be able to retire, when the tech industry let me know that I was too old for them (at 55). I'm not rich, but happier than I ever thought I had a right to be. Also, I do more work, and am much more productive, than I ever was, as a wage slave.
Equally I'm finding that at the upper leadership level (c level) a lot of companies are directionless which feeds down the whole chain and makes it difficult for middle managers to convey the importance of the work to be done. I'm sure this differs for blue collar work though since the tasks are more set in stone by design documents and safety codes.
I'm personally still trying to figure out if the lack of direction from above comes from a mixture of lack of personal interest and leadership training. Or if overall leadership training has fallen to the wayside and many lack the ability to properly communicate and plan for the future.
To be fair though I haven't had any experience as a manager or c level so I very much could just be lacking perspective.
But well, that's certainly not a "right", as you said.
That's one way to look at the common job requirement of "passion." Drink the Flavor Aid!
Disagree, its been shown that hunter gatherer tribes in various locations generally only need to work for about 4h a day on average.
I believe the “there is only time for work” stuff turned up as power structures developed. A pair of busy hands has less time to plot to overthrow the overlords, after all.
I think that's actually a fairly recent thing (like leisure time, which was really something only rich people had, once upon a time). There's still plenty of jobs that people have to do, that they don't look forward to, and are waiting for retirement. Some, pay quite well, but they aren't fun.
It's great to make a good living, and have a vocation that energizes and motivates us. We spend the majority of our time at our gig, so it makes sense that we should be happy, there. Employers want us to be happy, so we'll spend more time with them.
But there's a price to be paid for being relaxed and happy. I find that I need pressure, to get stuff shipped. These days, I do it for free (retired), and have to provide my own pressure. It works. The trick for most managers, is to be able to keep the pressure up, without making life miserable for their employees, because miserable employees are not productive ones.
I knew a very well-paid Derivatives Analyst (so you know this was a while ago). She used to work for a major bank, and told me how they would bring catered meals to her desk, and provide complimentary limousine drives home, if she stayed past train time. They also had world-class daycare.
She was pretty happy with her job, and stayed, until the bottom fell out of the market. I didn't have much contact with her, at that time, but I know she bounced around a bit. Not sure what she's up to, nowadays. I'm sure that she was under a tremendous amount of pressure, but some folks thrive on it. I know that she made a shitload of money, for a while.