The Hub's social entrepreneurs - poor but happy?

Happiness lessons from the world of social entreprise.

Having spent the best part of a year working in the Hub Islington; a fabulous work space for micro social enterprises & other do-gooders, I came to notice a strange phenomenon. By most professional standards the wages these guys bring in are small indeed, yet somehow their job - and life - satisfaction is much higher than your typical work environment.

Take the number of voiced complaints per minute as a good anecdotal indicator of how happy a workplace is. Be it a "damn, stupid computer," a subtle 'tut' at a colleague as they walk away, or a colleagiate grumble about how slow the morning's going; complaints form the background mumble of most offices.

Yet at the Hub, the atmosphere is different. It's 4 degrees outside (and therefore the same inside), the recycled wood chip heater's just packed in and now it's started raining onto someone's computer. Yet, still there's no sign of cynicism or complaint, just an "oops!" and the sound of a social entrepreneur scuttling to get a bowl to catch the drip.

According to our chosen economic model, there's something seriously wrong here. Money = happiness, right? Or if that doesn't convince you, then surely money = stuff = happiness will tempt you? (Don't you want that new Ikea sofa?) According to Coca-Cola, MacDonalds and, let's face it, even producers of fair trade products, shouldn't it be those with lower wages who are grumpy and those who can afford more 'stuff' who are cheerful and happy? Under this model, how can it be that those with less money and less 'stuff' appear happier?

"Alright, they might be happy-but-empoverished idealists for now," a typical career sort might argue, "but look a few years down the line when our high earners have paid off their mortgages, got their new car and have luxury holidays every year, and then you'll see who's happy." Still the idealists, I'm afraid to say, if research emerging over the past 10 years is to be believed. We know from various studies that people that people who are more materially orientated have lower levels of life satisfaction (see, for example, this study on business students, materialism & wellbeing). We also know that once your personal wealth (the value of your personal assets) has reached of $12k, an increase in wealth no longer affects your happiness.

So if it's not money, what is making our social entrepreneurs so happy with life? Here are my ideas;

1) The choice to forget about consumption
There are a lot of eco-aware sorts in the social enterprise scene, who have made the choice that they want to consume less for the sake of the environment. This doesn't just mean buying organic, but also buying second-hand clothing, or even swapping it. By not playing the consumption game, they're not stuck in the use-more, want-more, work-more, buy-more cycle (see http://www.storyofstuff.com for a wonderful, lighthearted video on this)

2) The choice of a higher purpose
It comes down to simple maths. I = 1. You = lots more than 1. If you focus your efforts at work on a higher purpose you see that there are many people who suffer more than yourself, many people who need help. In devoting yourself to a cause you'll naturally fail to see the minor agitations you face on the way - they're just not worth complaining about.

3) The choice of community
The Hub provides London a haven of much needed community. People sit & work together, collaborate on projects, often for free and even (cover your eyes if you're a Pret lunch fan) cook and eat together. We know instinctively that we're happiest when we're in a social environment, yet due to Hofstede's famous cross-cultural studies we have known for decades that as GDP rises, we become more focused on ourselves. At The Hub people chose togetherness rather than isolation.

The crucial point here is that these individuals chose their consumption patterns, their purpose and their community. These are choices we all make, every day.

Is it as simple as a choice between wealth and happiness? I'd love to hear your thoughts...