On average we spend 90.000 hours in our lives working. Hence, it is crucial to understand how different people can realise a good working life. In his talk, Hannes will draw on Aristotle's concept of "the good life," proposing a three-part framework for understanding a fulfilling working life, encompassing job satisfaction, work meaningfulness, and work psychological richness. While most workers would prioritize job satisfaction if forced to choose only one, many also value meaningfulness and psychological richness in their work. The presentation will highlight data from various cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, showing how demographic factors, personality traits, work and organizational characteristics, and worker behaviours uniquely influence these three aspects of a good working life. Furthermore, the talk will explore how these dimensions impact crucial work and life outcomes, including physical and mental health, work-family balance, job performance, and turnover intentions.
About the speaker
Hannes Zacher is Professor of Work and Organizational Psychology at the Wilhelm Wundt Institute of Psychology, Leipzig University, in Germany. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Giessen in 2009 and subsequently worked in academic positions in Australia and the Netherlands. In his research program, he investigates health and well-being (also in relation to the COVID pandemic), proactive and adaptive employee behavior, aging at work and career development, as well as environmentally sustainable behavior, stereotype threat. Across these research agendas, he employs multiple methodologies, including longitudinal surveys, experience sampling studies, and experiments. His research is well supported through grants and industry funding. He has published very successfully on the outlined topics in international journals, is very involved in media outreach, and serves on a number of national and international journal editorial boards. Hannes Zacher is one of the most influential contemporary psychologists in Europe.
