Self-employed people happier than employees ?

Being the head of your own business makes you happier than being an employee? According to a study by OnePoll for Vistaprint, which confirms the results of another study conducted by Hopwork and OuiShare, more self-employed people are happy and satisfied with their careers than employees.

Freedom of decision, the main factor in the happiness of the self-employed

Being able to make decisions for their own companies is mainly what makes entrepreneurs happy and satisfied with their careers (for 62% of them). At the same time, 57% of entrepreneurs cite autonomy as a source of happiness at work and 56% of them say they are happy simply because they do not have a boss.

Moreover, according to observations made among many employees, what contributes to their happiness is based on respect for everyone’s intelligence, the possibility of having a certain degree of autonomy and self-actualization at work.

However, most current companies adopt a managerial culture that does not allow them to meet the employees’ desires mentioned above. Self-employment, on the other hand, although sometimes more risky, is a perfect response to this thirst for freedom.

Indeed, self-employment allows a greater autonomy, often sought in the professional world. The self-employed also enjoy freedom of decision and choice, which implies in particular a more flexible management of the balance between professional and personal life, which employees do not always have.

Working in a social universe leads to happiness

Being independent does not necessarily mean being isolated. Moreover, a happy self-employed worker is a sociable self-employed worker. Many self-employed workers who are deprived of social relationships end up becoming psychologically exhausted and quickly because they do not enjoy the benefits that this type of environment can bring them. Indeed, working in a relational universe brings positive emotions generated by the secretion of pain-killing hormones, motivation, pleasure, cohesion, creativity and many others. It also reduces the stress hormone and promotes performance.

On this subject, the study conducted by OnePoll reveals that entrepreneurs are less stressed than employees.

The coworking hub is also the ideal place to contribute to the development of the self-employed since it gives rise to social exchanges and therefore feeds this social need that leads to the performance of entrepreneurs.

Recent studies have shown that an entrepreneur’s level of happiness is directly related to his perception of the success of his activity, and vice versa.

68% of happy entrepreneurs find that their company is growing compared to 81% of unhappy entrepreneurs who think their company is in difficulty.

What Geninc franchisees think about it

We wanted to ask our franchisees directly, who are in a better position to answer the question of happiness as entrepreneurs.

Here are their tips on how to be happy as an entrepreneur:

“The most important thing for me is to love growing up and watching your business grow. Because growing up, helping people, empowering them, seeing other people evolve makes you happy. I think the most important thing is also to like to lose and win, make mistakes and see yourself evolve after that and like to develop other people, and see their success. It’s the journey that makes you happy.”

Julien De Bonnières, Bordeaux franchisee

“Work very hard to become good, you will be much happier if you succeed and achieve your goals.”

Steve Shortt, franchisee in Lyon

“Reward yourself with every goal, big or small, you achieve. And sometimes, ask other people, who are important to you, to be with you when you reward yourself for your goals.”

Glenn Jansen, franchisee in Antwerp