Good company

With some people you have a mutual feeling of enjoying each other’s company so much that it doesn’t matter how you spend your time together. Being active or sharing silent moments without feeling awkward. Being able to express your thoughts no matter how you might stumble. When asking people who feel connected that way what it is that they share their answer will probably just be ‘feeling good’. More often than not it is a bonding between just two people. That’s why they say: two is company, three is a crowd.

Feeling good is one of the first requirements of being happy. The pursuit of happiness trails along different dimensions in one’s life, both in private and in work. Although private and work are very close related it is possible to feel happy in one and unhappy in the other. It is easily to imagine that sometimes when you and your partner are constantly fighting like cats and dogs it feels like a pleasant escape to go to work where your colleagues are nice and respecting you. On the other hand, when the job is very demanding and stressful it can feel like heaven coming home to your loving and understanding partner. In between those two aspects there’s also the commuting aspect. When having the job you really like requires you have to commute for hours in heavy traffic daily it will influence your feeling undoubtedly.

Unlike a personal relationship finding a job that suits you is less long-term focused for most people. A work relationship is more a trade off of talent against wage and devotion against other employee benefits these days. We all know that happy work bees work harder, or more steady anyway and they reflect the capital of a company. To be ranked in Fortune’s the 100 Best Companies to Work for aspects like how often people move jobs, the diversity of working people in the company (gender as well as minorities), wages, and many more are being evaluated annually. As far as I know there is no equivalent for this top 100 in the Netherlands but we have some very good companies too.

In my work as a counselor I sometimes have to visit my clients in their work environment. Now and then I take some of them with me to companies like kone, one of the leaders in the elevator and escalator industry, for overcoming their fear of elevators  or to an ANWB (Royal Dutch Touring Club) driving school in Rijswijk to overcome fear of driving a car. One thing I consider as a great benefit of my work is being related to companies like that. When you would ask me what makes me say that, I would probably first respond with they just make me feel good. Elaborating a little more I could bring up that it is a good atmosphere I sense inside those companies. Their buildings are representative, inviting and welcoming and their people are professional, friendly and willing to cooperate with me and the clients I bring with me. If I was looking for a job I could be happy to work there.

Being also a mom and daughter I consider flexibility of a job with respect of care giving to your family as a very important aspect too . Maybe that’s the main aspect why I work as an entrepreneur. I am willing to work hard and long days but I prefer to manage my own time schedule. There are many things in people’s lives that cannot be postponed outside 9 to 5 and lunch breaks are meant to be breaks to refill your energy. Besides taking care of necessary stuff sometimes people don’t feel fit enough to go to work, without being ill. The company I visited recently to meet and work with my client is one of the most inventive employers about flexible workspace because ICT is their business. It makes it possible for the company to reduce their costs and most people who work there are more productive. However not every job has possibilities to allow you to work at home, it should be easy enough to take a day off when necessary. Even when it is at your own costs. It is pretty common these days that two or more people share one job. Even the general practitioners in health centers in my town do work this way. Two doctors both working part-time. When patients want specifically talk to one of the doctors they can say so in booking their appointment.

Capacity is not static, benefits shouldn’t be either. Good companies understand that.