George Ward – författare

A new perspective on life satisfaction and well-being over the life courseWhat makes people happy? The Origins of Happiness seeks to revolutionize how we think about human priorities and to promote public policy changes that are based on what really matters to people. Drawing on a range of evidence using large-scale data from various countries, the authors consider the key factors that affect human well-being, including income, education, employment, family conflict, health, childcare, and crime. The Origins of Happiness offers a groundbreaking new vision for how we might become more healthy, happy, and whole.

The definitive account of workplace wellbeing and its key drivers, offering a fresh, data-driven perspective on the connections between happiness, productivity, and organizational success.Most of us spend a third of our waking lives at work. Work shapes our schedules, relationships, identities, and economies—but is it actually making us happy? This crucial question is explored in depth by leading Oxford researchers Jan-Emmanuel De Neve and George Ward, who provide the richest, most comprehensive picture of workplace wellbeing yet.In Why Workplace Wellbeing Matters, the authors clarify what workplace wellbeing is (and is not) and offer a framework for how businesses can approach and improve it. Drawing on extensive large-scale data—including the world's largest data set on employee wellbeing, gathered in partnership with the jobs platform Indeed—the book reveals the remarkable ways in which wellbeing at work varies across workers, occupations, companies, and industries.The authors present new, evidence-based insights into the origins of workplace wellbeing and how businesses can enhance the employee experience. Integrating work from multiple academic disciplines, they show that workplace wellbeing encompasses both how we think about our work as a whole and how we feel while doing it. Their research demonstrates that improving wellbeing can boost productivity, aid in talent retention and recruitment, and ultimately improve financial performance.With in-depth analysis and keen insight, De Neve and Ward debunk myths and test assumptions amid an often confusing cacophony of voices on wellbeing at work. Why Workplace Wellbeing Matters provides a firm foundation and indispensable resource for leaders seeking to shape the future of work.

What makes people happy? Why should governments care about people's well-being? How would policy change if well-being was the main objective? The Origins of Happiness seeks to revolutionize how we think about human priorities and to promote public policy changes that are based on what really matters to people. Drawing on a uniquely comprehensive range of evidence from longitudinal data on over one hundred thousand individuals in Britain, the United States, Australia, and Germany, the authors consider the key factors that affect human well-being. The authors explore factors such as income, education, employment, family conflict, health, childcare, and crime--and their findings are not what we might expect. Contrary to received wisdom, income inequality accounts for only two percent or less of the variance in happiness across the population; the critical factors affecting a person's happiness are their relationships and their mental and physical health. More people are in misery due to mental illness than to poverty, unemployment, or physical illness.Examining how childhood influences happiness in adulthood, the authors show that academic performance is a less important predictor than emotional health and behavior, which is shaped tremendously by schools, individual teachers, and parents. For policymakers, the authors propose new forms of cost-effectiveness analysis that places well-being at center stage. Groundbreaking in its scope and results, The Origins of Happiness offers all of us a new vision for how we might become more healthy, happy, and whole.