Where is the happy medium?

The average British person spends about 100,000 hours working, that's about 1/3 of their lifetime. Thats without the rediculous amount of time spent working overtime, answering midnight blackberry emails and the endless painful hours packed on sweaty trains and tubes travelling to and from work.

Work is a massive part of our lives.

So when does it become too much?

People differ - it depends on how you feel about your job, the amount of autonomy you have, the relationships you have at work, even the heating, lighting and air conditioning in your office affects how you feel about your job.

People have different motivations, some want to get home to their partners and families others want to stay away from them. All of these people and their worlds contribute to the social structure and culture of workplaces. Some are prepared to work very long hours because they enjoy the work they are doing and therefore they get some internal gain from the work. Others hate to work long hours because it encroaches on their free time and affects their social lives.  Some are made to work long hours because the attitude can be 'if you don't do it, someone else will' Then there is the opposite end of the spectrum where people wait for their working days to end, clock watching because they have so little to fill their days but they're afraid to speak up in case they talk themselves out of a job.

So who gets it right? There are extremes. The likes of Google with their sleep pods which peopel can use at any time during the working day to help revive them for more work!

Research has shown that people most enjoying working when it provides them with some intrinsic value, that is it means something to them, it motivates them from within rather than from external gains like financial rewards or tangible gifts. People like to feel they are making a difference to someone somewhere. It's human nature.

But then should we be happy at work? Is that what it's about? Surely we only go to work to make money in order to live the rest of our lives... but when you break it down 'the rest of lives' is pretty minimal, once you factor in sleep, going to the toilet etc. But then some of us enjoy all those things too. Maybe we just live for those small moments of intense satisfaction, those times when we feel pure elation. Like the first few months of being in love or when we have an amazing night out with friends, or see a great film or for those altruistic types, help someone in need. Work is just part of life. Most of us have to do it and it brings order into the choas that is our world. Those who give up work through good fortune or are born into money and don't have to work are often unhappy souls. So as much as we moan about work it actually brings value to life.