Creating happiness at work place
Happy staffers make better collaborators and team players; often going the extra mile for others OPINION
In 2016, the uae demonstrated its commitment to building a happier society by appointing a UAE Minister of State for Happiness (Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi). As a big contributor to everyday wellbeing for most adults, improving workplace happiness was a natural place to start. Initiatives such as the National Happiness and Positivity Charter were born in the government sector and quickly spread, with Al Roumi recently recognising the role of entrepreneurs and the private sector in backing the movement.
The UAE government is collaborating with the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton), the Greater Good Science Centre at the University of California – Berkley and the Oxford Mindfulness Centre at Oxford University to create courses that help employees gain practical skills to build happier workplaces. Over sixty government entities and many private sector companies now employ trained chief happiness and positivity officers. Given this new mandate, how can your organisation get on board and reap the benefits of a positive work environment?
Research consistently shows that happiness and positivity are vital for business success. As Alexander Kjerulf, an expert on happiness at work suggests, this is because workplaces with happy, engaged people are more likely to be productive. Kjerulf’s research (2014) shows that happy companies have a competitive advantage: they tend to attract more capable employees who stick around.
Global research collated by the Action for Happiness group highlights that happy staffers make better collaborators and team players; often going the extra mile for others, whether for colleagues or customers. They are more likely to out-earn their less positive colleagues. Happier workers are perceived as strong performers who learn faster and who are more innovative than their peers. Indeed, studies by positive psychology expert Shawn Achor with Fortune 500 companies and Harvard students show that a happier brain is 35 per cent more prolific. Alice Isen’s work (1997) demonstrates that positivity can actually improve our intellectual ability, for example when solving a difficult problem.
What can managers and leaders do?
Creating a happy workplace is not about being the life of the party. Nor do you need to shy away from talking tough or bluntly when it’s required. In fact, happy workplaces are characterised by high trust and openness between leaders, managers and employees (Dirks and Ferrin, 2002).
To establish trust, provide clear guidelines and targets for your employees while helping them take ownership of delivering results. Encourage quality work and focus on coaching and supporting rather than over-supervising people. Treat mistakes as learning experiences: an opportunity for your team or organisation to grow. As Jessica Pryce-Jones (founder of iOpener) counsels, model trustbuilding behaviours with your teams such as reliability and managing expectations. Be a savvy manager by drawing on your emotional intelligence to build strong interpersonal relationships. Kjerulf’s 2014 research across 30 countries demonstrated that happiness at work depends on both “results and relationships”.
Appreciate your employees and help them to find meaning in their work: this is a powerful motivator and engagement tool that increases productivity. As Henry Stewart explains in The Happy Manifesto (2013), “people work best when they feel good about themselves… and they feel good when they spend most of their time doing what they are best at”. Of course creating a happy workplace is not just the responsibility of employers or managers. It is everybody’s responsibility, starting with the attitude we all bring to our work.
Research from University of California research psychologist Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky (The How of Happiness, 2008) shows that 40 per cent of our happiness is determined by “intentional activities” — what we ourselves can change — with only 10 per cent by external factors. Achor agrees, pointing out that from a young age, we internalise the belief that it is working harder that leads to more success; whereas 75 per cent of our success is actually predicted by our capacity to look on the bright side, to manage stress positively and to draw upon support networks of family and friends.
Both Achor and Lyubomirsky have experimented with the power of these intentional activities, training our brains to be more positive or “happier in the moment”. Activities recommended to ‘bring the happy’ include using meditation techniques or mindfulness, journaling your positive experiences, practicing gratitude and random acts of kindness. Our physical wellbeing is also crucial to our happiness levels: keeping active, taking care of our health, and eating and sleeping well.
Of course, not all work tasks are pleasant. Some are downright boring. However, getting into “flow” — or being able to completely unconsciously focus on our work — can help us find happiness in the mundane. According to the world expert on “flow”, Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, we respond best to ‘Goldilocks’ activities — they are not too difficult or too easy, they are ‘just right’. Reflecting on what you’ve achieved after you complete such a task provides a little extra bit of happiness to boost your workday.