Stumbled across an interesting, maybe, contrast.
According to Forbes the happiest place to work, by a lot, is the good ole US of A. According to Forbes not only are we the happiest, but we are also the most productive, $63 per GDP hour. (Forbes Nov 18, 2013 p 28) So there you go, personal opinion, I would guess that the American workplace is probably the most motivated, flexible, given the most freedom to do the job and not shackled with a lot of social engineering. At least compared to other countries, the concern is getting the job done. I would also hazard to guess that there is much more freedom of conscience, more give and take, more ability for people to work with each other without a lot of extraneous matter. That was my experience. I worked for twenty years in corporate finance, as well as being operational in the Coast Guard Reserved, as well as active duty time. I haven’t seen research, and I’m certainly not saying that the workplace is a “comfortable” place, but there still is an acceptance. I would be willing to bet a lot, that people of faith in other countries, especially Europe, are very much discouraged. No doubt the workplace is more workable because people can live out there principles in the workplace.
In contrast, (from an on-line study, PIX 11, believe got it off Huffington Post Jul 23, 2014) the least happy place in the U.S.? Yea, bet you didn’t see this coming, New York, NY. That’s right the city that never sleeps, of course that could be the reason why. What do NYCers worship? Oh yeah, money, success, and power. It is a place where everyone goes to succeed and only a tiny minority do. Oh believe me, most of my corporate life was related to the City. I started working for Chase Manhattan. Ironically one of my last assignments in the Coast Guard before retiring and going to seminary was Staten Island, cruising around the city in a forty one foot Coast Guard boat. So yeah, many come to NYC and all except for a tiny number, leave, usually in short order. Can’t be very happy in a place like that. In addition faith is an issue only in terms of whether it furthers your career and fortune. Work in the City is how much, how fast and how high, anything else, to use a Yiddish expression which is pretty common in NYC, is bupkus.

The ten happiest metropolitan areas? Are, with one exception, in the south, yup the Bible belt. The one area north of the Mason-Dixon, interestingly enough is in New Jersey, go figure. If there’s an area where faith is still going to be a part of the workplace, it would logically be where the Christian faith is still a daily reality.

Yeah, I may be laying template/agenda across two unrelated studies, but … the facts would seem to indicate that in those areas where faith still matters, it still makes all the difference in life.

So take some time tomorrow 10am  at First St Johns 140 W King St, have a cup of coffee, we can talk a little more about this or pursue Gene Veith’s book.