Organisational Culture

Being happy is the definition of success: Survey

18 May 2018|

Updated on 6 March 2019

How would you define success? By your job title? By the amount of your annual package? Or by the number of deals, you close every year?

A survey commissioned by Linkedin to the research firm YouGov was carried out online between October 12 and November 3 in 2017, with over 18,000 adults in the following 16 countries: Australia, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Brazil, the UAE, the UK and the US. Over a thousand of these respondents were Indian and the results of the same were released a few weeks back.

Surveys which set out to capture definitions of success are rare to begin with. One would assume that considering the tough environment in which employment opportunities exist while gauging the level of an individual’s success, precedence will be given to salary and earnings by default.

Here are some of the findings of the survey:

Close on the heels of happiness, good health (65%) and healthy work-life balance (57%) are some of the other constituents of success, as chosen by Indian respondents in the survey.

Just 22% of the respondents attribute success to a ‘rise in paycheck’, whereas 36% chose to define success in the terms of ‘earning a six-figure salary’.

According to the respondents, the factors that have played a positive role in enhancing the ability to achieve success are: education (79%), choice of career (68%), age (61%), and gender (56%).

Indian professionals ranked third overall in ‘feeling successful’, right after UAE and Brazil in the first and second position respectively.

49% of the Indian professionals (490 Indian respondents) believe that success comprises both, long-term and short-term wins, which demonstrate a balanced and healthy outlook to success.

Almost 70% (700 Indian respondents) of the Indian respondents felt successful and had a positive and balanced outlook in achieving success.

Despite the challenges of a competitive job market and rising inflation, nearly 10% Indians (100 Indian respondents) feel optimistic regarding achieving success within one year – nearly double the global average of 5%.

30% of the Indian respondents (300 Indian respondents) are of the view that achieving social success is more important than professional success – higher than the global average of 22% (220 Indian respondents).

This survey shows that Indians consider having good friends, getting travel opportunities and finding the time to cultivate new hobbies are some important indicators of success.

63% of the Indian respondents (630 Indians) said that success means different things to different people.

"The growing optimism in India's macroeconomic environment shines through in the confidence professionals feel towards achieving success. While success means many different things to different people, it is heartening to see indicators like work-life balance, family time and health taking precedence over a six-figure salary,” Deepa Sapatnekar, LinkedIn, Head of Communications, India, has been quoted saying in a Business Standard report.

The fact that success and its definition are expanding to yardsticks beyond earning is a sign of maturing workforce. The results show that employees have started reworking their priority list and value things like work-life balance and social success over how much they earn.

Additionally, the survey also shows that compared to their global peers, Indian professionals are feeling much more successful and optimistic. Compared to the global average, almost double the number of Indians feel that success is within their reach in the next 12 months. This is commendable, considering how volatile, competitive and cut-throat the Indian job market is. The findings reveal that Indian employees are generally more upbeat and optimistic about their work, and are progressively maturing at a stable pace, which is by all means, a welcome development.

Author

Manav Seth