WHEN it comes to serenity, work is often the last place you'd think to find it. But employees who are "self-connected" and demonstrate an "inner serenity" are more resistant to stress, accept the unpredictability of modern business life, promote harmony and energy and are better workers as a result, a new study has found.

These people could be elusive, however. A third of the 445 respondents for the Krauthammer study weren't confident they knew themselves, and half said they don't feel connected at work.

What's more, only one in five employees believes all their potential is fulfilled in the workplace, with four out of 10 claiming that something is blocking them.

So how can you tap into your inner reserve and get connected? It's all about getting to know yourself.

Start by figuring out what you want and what you're good at, advises occupational psychologist Angelina Bennet.

"Employees will often be aware that they're not that happy at work but when they come home will just grumble and do nothing about it," explains Bennet, the founder of consultants I Potential .

"If you want to be more self-connected, you need to dedicate some time to figuring out who you are, what you like, what your values are and what aspects of work you enjoy or don't enjoy. And you need to be specific.

"Ask yourself four questions," she says. "Are you satisfied with the pay and conditions, the nuts and bolts of your job? What about the organisation, how it runs itself and what it stands for? How satisfied are you with the relationships you have at work, with your team, with your manager?

"And finally, what about the work itself? Do you feel like you're doing your best and progressing in your work?" Bennet says that employees will often find that one or two of those questions throws up some problems that they can then tackle individually – by understanding they want a pay rise, more stimulating work or to get on better with their team mates.

Interpersonal relationships are more likely than the organisation itself to influence an employee's self-connectedness, so forging ties with your manager or colleagues could help you find your serenity, the study found.

Bennet says: "If employees are happy and working to their potential, the long-term effect is that more money is brought in. If people feel like they're being treated fairly well, they'll put in the effort, but if they're treated very well, they'll put in extra effort.

"One-on-one appraisals and sessions spent talking about employees' aspirations can help move things in that direction. Managers now need to not only keep one eye on the task at hand but help develop their employees, too."

Four reasons to self-connect: 1. Healthy detachment: Self-connected people re-anchor themselves and can step back from external factors.

2. Accessible intuition: Intuition is a vital resource for creativity and decision-making - in our complex and information-rich world, none of us has access to all the facts.

3. Emotional stability: Connected people are driven less by spontaneous impulses, or hidden fears, than by a quest to 'do the right thing'.

5. Authentic integrity: A self-connected individual acts in harmony with his or her unique core, and expresses this to the outside world which others experience as personal authenticity, sincerity and good old-fashioned integrity.