A recent Gallup poll demonstrates that Americans are much more satisfied at work than they were a decade ago.

But this doesn't appear to be due to better pay or benefits.

Some analysts suggest that we may simply be lowering our expectations.

While Gallup counters with notions that greater satisfaction is due to better benefits communication from HR, analyst Rebecca Weingarten says that American workers are living more fulfilling lives outside of the workplace.

In her view, Americans are starting to think of work as a place to make money, finding happiness in outside pursuits, like family and side projects, and from intangible benefits within the workplace, like good friends and benevolent bosses.

If this is true, it represents a sea change in expectations about what work means, and suggests that workplace happiness may be both a means and an end in itself.

Read full article at Fast Company.